Letting Go and Grabbing Hold
by AnnabelleElizabeth
Summary: Rated for future chapters. Romance abounds but no one seems to be with the right person. Many will have to let go of what they thought they wished for, and grab hold of the few things that are forever true.
1. Author's Note

Author's Note:

This was begun during the first big wave of HP fanfic. Origianlly a 'year five' fic, it's now AU, but canon through GoF.

In the middle of writing chapter 7, Real Life hit hard and I have only recently delved back into writing creatively.

I'm going through what's been posted to do some much needed beta-ing, then if the muses are cooperative I'll start writing again.

That said, here's the original, rather lame, author's note:

This fanfic represents my theories and desires for what is to come in the Harry Potter books, whose characters were born in the amazing mind of J.K. Rowling. Apart from that, I have been inspired by other fanfics that I keep up with and some of my favorite songs (I may delve into some song fic at some point in this story, but I'm not sure yet...we'll see how it goes). So if you notice something that seems familiar, I ask you to remember two things:  
1) great minds think alike, and  
2) imitation is the highest form of flattery.

With that said, let the ficcy begin...


	2. The Order of the Phoenix

I. The Order of the Phoenix

  
A perfectly ordinary day, on a perfectly ordinary street. With one exception - a perfectly extraordinary boy, one Harry Potter. Summer was in full swing and Harry, who had only been home from school for a few weeks, was ready to leave his horrid family (if you could call them a family) at 4 Privet Drive and return to the world that HE knew as ordinary. The wizarding world, to be exact. Harry Potter is a wizard - and a famous one at that - who has been forced to live with his extremely unmagical Aunt Petunia & Uncle Vernon Dursley, and their rather obese son, Dudley, since he was barely a year old. Harry was counting the days till his upcoming return to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he would be starting his fifth year.  
  


As he sat weeding the rear garden of Number 4, Harry began to daydream about what new adventures he would have this year with his best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The past four years had brought them close to death more times than he cared to count. But in the process, it had brought them from being coincidental friends during their first journey on the Hogwart's Express to being an inseparable trio that couldn't imagine what life would be like without each other. But Ron and Hermione weren't the only people Harry was looking forward to seeing at school. He was anxious to get back to practicing Quidditch with the Gryffindor house team, but he was even more excited about seeing someone from the Ravenclaw Quidditch team...Cho Chang. He didn't know if Cho would ever be interested in him, but the possibility alone made his heart flutter...  
  


"HARRY! Get inside this instant!" a voice screeched from the patio door.  
"What now," Harry sighed as he stood up, dusted himself off, and headed back to the house. Aunt Petunia's judgmental stare met him as he stepped through the door. She looked very pleased with herself, but at the same time very annoyed at having to actually speak to with her nephew.  
  


"Yes, Aunt Petunia?"  
  


"Go upstairs and pack some clothes. We're going on holiday in Chester for a fortnight, and I've arranged for you to stay with Mrs. Figg." Harry nodded in compliance before making his way upstairs.  
  


"Oh, great," Harry moaned to himself as he turned into his bedroom, "Two weeks with Mrs. Figg...it'll take me a month to rid myself of cat hair and stop smelling like old cabbage." He continued to grumble about how behind he would get on his homework (he had yards of essays to write that he hadn't yet begun) as he scribbled a note to Ron asking him to take care of Hedwig for a few days. He opened the bedroom window and whispered to the snowy white owl that he'd be back soon before she flew up into the sky.  
  


~  
  


The Dursley's new car reversed out of Mrs. Figg's driveway in a cloud of dust as Harry walked towards her door. He turned and looked at them speeding down to the roundabout at the end of Privet Drive. Well, at least I'll be spoken to for bit this summer, Harry thought as he rapped on the front door.  
  


He heard someone shuffling about inside; the footsteps grew louder and halted just as a click announced that the bolt had been unlocked. The door creaked open. Harry expected to see old Mrs. Figg standing there, her silver hair up in bun and her dusty brown cardigan wrapped around her shoulders.   
  


But the woman who answered the door COULDN'T be Mrs. Figg...could it?  
  


~  
  


The woman who now stood in Mrs. Figg's doorway looked to be in her mid to late thirties. Her brown hair hung loose and matched her not-so-dusty cardigan. She was wearing Mrs. Figg's apron, and Harry couldn't quite see what was poking out of its pocket...  
  


"Are you alright, Harry?" she said quizzically, interrupting his train of thought.  
  


"Pardon, but...who are you?" he inquired.   
  


The woman's expression quickly changed from puzzled to distraught.  
  


"Oh my goodness, me! I've forgotten!" she exclaimed. After pausing to regain her composure, she continued more calmly, "Come in, dear, we need to have a little chat..."  
Harry nodded hesitantly in compliance before crossing the threshold into the house. The mysterious (and yet...familiar, he thought) woman shut and locked the door behind him, then led the way to the living room. They headed to opposite ends of the afghan-draped couch and, as she lowered herself onto a cushion, something long and thin bounced to the floor from her apron pocket.  
  


As she scooped it up and quickly tucked it away again, a wide-eyed Harry whispered with astonishment, "Is that...a wand?"  
  


Blushing slightly, the woman nervously tucked her hair behind her ears and murmured, "One thing after another...this isn't starting out how I'd hoped." She brought her eyes up to meet Harry's and began to tell him things he never would have imagined to be true...  
  


~  
  


"Harry, I am Mrs. Figg...well, at least, I'm the same person that you knew as Mrs. Figg. My name is Arabella Figg, and I'm one of the few remaining Aurors. Fourteen years ago I was asked to watch over you while you stayed with the Dursley's. I immediately took the assignment. It was the least I could do...after all your parents did for me..." she finished softly as her eyes began to glisten with the threat of tears.  
  


"My parents? You knew my parents?" Harry asked eagerly.  
  


"Yes, I met them at Hogwart's. I was in the same year as your father, James, and his two best friends Sirius Black and Remus Lupin. I didn't along with them at first - they were always pulling pranks on the girls in our dorm (well, they were always pulling pranks on anything that moved, but us especially) - but before I left for the Christmas holidays ... well, let's just say I got even. After that we all became friends. When Lily, your mum, came to Hogwart's (she was a year younger than we were) she and I became best friends by the time of the Halloween feast.  
  


"After we all had graduated Hogwart's, we kept in touch but went our separate ways. We got together for weddings, baby showers, and such...but in retrospect we should have kept in touch better than we did. There's no changing the past, though, is there?  
  


"After Voldemort - well, after he disappeared, Remus and I were the only ones left alive and free. We discovered at your parents' ordering ceremony that being together brought back too many painful memories...so we only saw each other when our professions demanded it."  
  


"Sorry, but, what's an ordering ceremony? Is that the wizard equivalent of a muggle funeral?" Harry always jumped at the chance of learning more about his parents.  
"Usually, no, but in your parents' case that would be a good analogy. An ordering ceremony is when witches and wizards are given titles for special deeds. There are many different orders, the Order of Merlin for example; your parents were each awarded the Order of the Phoenix, First Class," Arabella revealed with a mixture of pride and sorrow ringing in her voice.  
  


Harry's eyes glazed over and his jaw hung slightly open as he took everything in.  
"What is the Order of Phoenix awarded for?"   
  


"As much as I want to tell you right now, I don't think you're quite ready. You've already been through a lot his afternoon. I wish I could have told you sooner who I really was, but it was better for you to think I was just a crazy old muggle. But these are different times, Harry, and we have to depend on one another if we're going to make it through."  
Harry decided that she was right, but he knew he would go crazy if he had to wait any longer to ask her the question that had been nagging him for some time now.  
  


~  
  


"Mrs. Figg, why - and how for that matter - did you make yourself look so much older before?"  
  


"Harry, are you sure this can't wait till later?" she sighed.   
  


But as she looked into his pleading eyes, she knew she had to answer at least one of his questions. At the moment this one was the more desirable of the two.  
  


"Alright," she conceded. "First of all, please call me Arabella; to my ears 'Mrs. Figg' will always be my mother.  
  


"I had to be in disguise for a lot of reasons. The Dursley's were much more likely to trust an old widower than a single young woman. But more importantly was that if a Death Eater spotted me in a muggle neighborhood I would have put both of us in peril, because they would immediately have known that I was up to something.  
  


"As to how, I had a friend keep me supplied with a special aging potion that is very similar to Polyjuice; hence the cabbage stench that this place has adopted. In the excitement of you coming to stay today I completely forgot to take it...perhaps changing into an eighty-year-old all these years has affected my memory," she finished with a giggle.  
  


~  
  


Arabella told Harry to make himself at home while she went take care of some things. She apparated out with a pop as Harry went to see what was on the muggle radio. He finally found a decent station, BBC's Radio 1, and slumped onto the sofa to think about his situation. The radio soon became background noise, but if Harry had been listening he would have heard the song that would soon become his heart's theme...  
  


_Turn it inside out so I can see - The part of you that's drifting over me  
And when I wake you're never there - But when I sleep you're everywhere   
You're everywhere  
Just tell me how I got this far - Just tell me why you're here and who you are   
'Cause every time I look you're never there   
And every time I sleep you're always there   
'Cause you're everywhere to me - And when I close my eyes it's you I see   
You're everything I know - that makes me believe   
I'm not alone - I'm not alone   
I recognize the way you make me feel   
It's hard to think that you might not be real   
I sense it now, the water's getting deep - I try to wash the pain away from me   
Away from me  
'Cause you're everywhere to me - And when I close my eyes it's you I see   
You're everything I know that makes me believe   
I'm not alone - I'm not alone  
I am not alone   
Whoa, oh, oooh, oh   
And when I touch your hand - It's then I understand   
The beauty that's within - It's now that we begin   
You always light my way - I hope there never comes a day   
No matter where I go - I always feel you so   
'Cause you're everywhere to me - And when I close my eyes it's you I see   
You're everything I know that makes me believe   
I'm not alone  
  
'Cause you're everywhere to me - And when I catch my breath   
it's you I breathe - You're everything I know that makes me believe   
I'm not alone   
You're in everyone I see - So tell me...  
Do you see me?_  
  


~  
  


Still lost in thought, Harry didn't hear Arabella return, and was quite startled when her voice rang out from the hallway, asking him to come and give her a hand. He jumped up and followed the sound of her voice. He skidded to a halt when he saw his trunk and Hedwig's cage resting on the floor in the foyer.  
  


"My things!"   
  


"I thought they might make you feel more at home."  
  


"Thanks!"  
  


"Not a problem. Help me take them to your room and then we'll have dinner. I'm starving."  
  


~  
  


Harry re-acquainted himself with the contents of his trunk, setting out a picture of Hermione, Ron, and himself that had been taken by Colin Creevey the previous year and piling his schoolbooks and parchment on the desk, before heading back to the kitchen.  
It had only taken him a few minutes, but by the time he reached the kitchen table, there were steaming dishes of rice and curry (a Chicken Korma by the looks of it) on the table, a stack of hot naan bread, and a dish of mango chutney, waiting for him.  
  


"Wow, you're faster at magical cooking than Mrs. Weasley!"  
  


"Actually, I'm a horrible chef. I called the Surrey Tandoori in town and had them deliver," she admitted.  
  


Harry chuckled as he piled his plate, remembering the times he had eaten there before.  
"Well, I can help you with that. Petunia always made me cook. I'm no gourmet, but I know my way around a kitchen."  
  


~   
  


Harry began to clear the table, but Arabella reminded him that he didn't have to do things the muggle way anymore when he was with her. She proceeded to magic the dishes over to the sink, where they were scrubbed, rinsed, and instantly dried. Next, she scooped some Ty-Phoo into a cobalt blue teapot and then added boiling water from her wand to the loose tealeaves.  
  


"I think I'm ready to know about the Order of the Phoenix," Harry prompted.  
  


Arabella looked at him reluctantly before making up her mind, "Yes, I suppose you are. I think you'll be surprised at how much you already know."  
  


"What do you mean?"  
  


"Well, what do you know about phoenixes, Harry?"  
  


Harry thought back to his second year at Hogwart's, when he had first met Fawkes, Dumbledore's pet phoenix.  
  


"I remember Dumbledore told me that their tears have healing powers, they're really faithful, and they die and are reborn in a burst of flames," he recalled. This triggered another thought, "When Fawkes came to me in the Chamber of Secrets, there was glorious singing that made my heart swell right before he appeared - in a similar burst of flames."  
  


"Very observant, Harry. So with the characteristics of a phoenix in mind, why do you think they have an order named after them?"  
  


Harry tilted his head to one side while he considered her question. Perhaps someone who's really loyal? And helped those that they were loyal to? Did the bursts of flames have anything to do with it? He remembered how Fawkes had fought the basilisk deep below Hogwart's...was being brave another requirement of the order? It seemed to make sense. His parents must have been loyal to something to not fall to the dark side, and they had sacrificed themselves for him, he thought with a pang of guilt. He had heard his mother and father's voices as they prepared to face Voldemort for the last time. There was no mistaking their bravery. Unable to decipher anymore about the order, he presented his theory to Arabella.  
  


"Very good, Harry, you've figured out the basic gist of it. Now I'll fill you in on the details:  
  


"The Order of the Phoenix is given to someone who epitomizes the characteristics that phoenixes are known for: compassion, loyalty, purity of heart, bravery, and selflessness. Compassion for their willingness to heal those that are wounded. Loyalty because they are the most faithful of all the magical creatures. Purity of heart is often symbolized by fire; the song of a phoenix encourages people with pure hearts to believe in themselves. And you, yourself, have witnessed how brave and selfless phoenixes are."  
  


"Do you have to die to be given the Order of the Phoenix?"  
  


"No, but most - if not all - of the first class recipients were killed."  
  


They sat in silence, both thinking about Lily and James Potter, neither of them noticing the tears that fell down their cheeks.


	3. Friendly Advice

II. Friendly Advice  
  
Harry didn't protest when Arabella stood up and announced that they should be getting to bed. Even though it wasn't very late, his emotional exhaustion from the day's events made him feel like he had been awake for days.   
  
He crawled into bed where, to his surprise, a smile crossed his face. He was haunted by the memories of his parents being murdered; he was annoyed that, yet again, he had been kept in the dark about so many important things in his life.   
  
However, he was immensely proud of his parents, and overjoyed that he now had a link to the magical community that was so easily accessible from his excuse for an existence at the Dursley's.  
  
The grin remained intact as he slept. His happiness rewarded him with such a sound and dreamless sleep that the intense burning that radiated from the lightening shaped scar on his forehead came and went without notice...  
  
~  
  
As the sunlight streamed in the bedroom window and across Harry's face, he briefly wondered why he hadn't already been awakened by Petunia screaming at him to make breakfast. Then the events of the previous day came flooding back to him.  
  
I think I'll stay in bed all morning, he thought to himself as he rolled over and sighed contentedly. But his stomach was inclined to disagree. He slipped his glasses on and meandered to the kitchen in his pyjamas.  
  
"Morning," he greeted Arabella sleepily as she placed a plate of freshly toasted crumpets on the table.  
  
"Morning, Harry, you're just in time to eat. Help yourself," she replied, indicating the spread on the table. There were all sorts of marmalades, Nutella, and honey (to spread on the crumpets), as well as a pile of bacon and a pitcher of pumpkin juice.  
  
When there were only a few crumbs left on the table, Arabella told Harry that he needed to go wash up and get dressed.  
  
"What's the rush?"  
  
"Professor Dumbledore owled me very early; he wrote that he would be coming over later this morning to speak with us," she answered non-chalantly, in an attempt to hide how worried she truly was.  
  
"Oh." Harry's mind was reeling with possibilities once again. Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwart's, was a very busy man, and Harry knew that he was more preoccupied than ever since the return of Voldemort. So what was so important that he was taking time to speak with Harry in person?  
  
Harry emerged from his room wearing navy slacks and a short sleeved shirt. He found Arabella preparing tea & biscuits on a tray and helped her take them into the living room.  
  
They sat making idle chatter for a few moments before a loud pop directed their attention to the entryway.  
  
"Albus! It's been so long!" Arabella exclaimed as she rose to meet him.  
  
"Yes, Madame Figg, it has," he returned, kissing the back of her hand. "Though time has treated you well. Since the last time we met you seem to have discovered how to reverse the aging process." He knew full well that she hadn't reversed anything; that she'd only taken a break from the fast-forwarding she'd been up to for years.  
  
"Good morning, Professor," Harry interceded, standing to join the others.  
  
"Ah! Harry, settling in alright, I hope?"  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Good, good. Shall we sit?" he asked as he lowered himself into an overstuffed wingback chair.  
Professor Dumbledore sat very still, collecting his thoughts, before divulging to Harry and Arabella what was in store for them all in the coming year...  
  
"You may recall, Harry, that I said that those of us "in the know" would have to stick together if we are to have any chance of stopping Voldemort. I instructed Sirius to speak with Arabella, Remus Lupin, and Mundungus Fletcher. He did so, and I then instructed Arabella to reveal her true self to you. I hoped to preserve more of your childhood, Harry, but in these dark times we must utilize every asset that we have.  
  
"Which is why your studies this year will be...enhanced. You will learn the details of your extra coursework after you have arrived at Hogwart's. What I can tell you now is that Miss Figg will be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, since she no longer needs to keep her identity a secret from you. We will have some other new faculty members, as well...but none that you need to be concerned about just yet.  
  
"Despite the measures that have been taken for your safety at the Dursley's, I think it would be most wise to have you in the midst of other wizards and witches. So, when your family returns from holiday, I will send someone to escort you to the Weasley's house for the remainder of the summer. I know you must have a plethora of questions for me, harry, but I really must be going right now. Madame - or should I say Professor - Figg will do her best to answer them for you. I will be in touch." Albus Dumbledore stood and drew a thick parchment envelope from within his robes. He handed it to Arabella and left as abruptly as he had come.  
~  
  
Over the next two weeks, Arabella told Harry stories about when she went to school at Hogwart's with Lily, James, Sirius, Remus, et al. Harry hoped that Sirius would come to visit him at Figg's house, but reckoned that it was either too dangerous or that he was doing things for Dumbledore still. The day before the Dursley's were to return, Arabella took Harry's school things back (he had finished all of his homework, with her help) and made sure she had some aging potion left.  
  
The following afternoon, she aged herself and walked Harry down the street. They rehearsed what they would say so that Petunia thought he had had a dreadful time, and after they both delivered their lines, Arabella gave Harry a wink when Petunia's back was turned and hobbled back to her house.  
  
No sooner had Harry dropped his duffel of clothes on the bed than Hedwig flew through the window, landed on Harry's shoulder, and nipped him lovingly on the ear. The boy untied the letter attached to her leg and as he read it ran downstairs to tell the Dursley's that he would be leaving for the Weasley's house that night.  
  
~  
  
Meanwhile...  
  
~  
  
Miles away from where Harry was just learning the truth about Arabella Figg, the Weasley clan was trying to make the most out of their summer. Charlie and Bill were still in Romania and Egypt, respectively, while Mr. Weasley and Percy were working long hours at the ministry.   
Fred and George spent their time coming up with new tricks for their joke shop and practicing Quidditch with Ron. When the youngest Weasley brother wasn't practicing, he moped around the house, muttering about what a worthless git that Krum was, ever since he received an owl from Hermione telling him she would be in Bulgaria for a while.   
  
Mrs. Weasley had been spending her time trying to figure out what was wrong with Ginny...  
  
~  
  
It was another warm summer's evening, and the Weasley's were sitting around the dinner table sharing snippets from their days. Ginny was listening only enough to make sure she laughed, nodded, or looked surprised at the right times.   
  
Her mind was too troubled about the coming night to bother listening to the same type of anecdotes she had heard yesterday, and every other night since they had returned from Hogwart's. Percy would have some "important business" to allude to with her father, who was excited about figuring out some muggle device or another ("It's amazing, the things they come up with," he would invariably exclaim). George and Fred will have come up with another million-galleon idea, and Ron will recite his latest top-ten list of reasons why you should NEVER visit Bulgaria.   
  
~  
  
If it had been the previous summer, Ginny would have been happily focused on her family, but recent events had affected her to the point of consuming her every waking thought.   
  
She supposed it had really begun three years go when she had become a pawn in Tom Riddle's dark agenda, but it had only become bothersome since the third task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament.   
  
When everyone had realized that Harry and Cedric had disappeared, she fled to her dormitory to cry, praying that the boy-who-lived had not left this world before she had been able to tell him how much she cared about him. She wept so deeply that she exhausted herself and cried herself to sleep.   
  
That was when the dreams had begun.   
  
~  
  
"Ginny!" A loud voice slashed into the teenage girl's recollections.   
  
"Pardon, Mum, what did you say?" Ginny replied, slipping back to the present.   
  
"I asked you how your day was, dear."   
  
"Oh, alright, I guess. I worked on some essays for Professor Binns, watched the boys practicing Quidditch, and then took a nap." It was a somewhat truthful account. She had blankly stared at her History of Magic book, wandered out to the field to sit under a tree as Ron and the twins flew overhead, and then gone to lay on her bed in avoidance of her mother's troubled glances at her. But the entire time she had been lost in introspective thought, trying to figure out why she was having those dreams and - on a different but related matter - what her true feelings for Harry were.   
  
"That's nice, dear," Mrs. Weasley responded, knowing that there was more to the story, but letting her only daughter wait until she was ready to discuss it. Molly may be the mother of six, five of them boys, but she hadn't forgotten what it was like to be fourteen.   
  
~  
  
After everyone's tummies were satisfied and the dishes had been cleaned and put away, Ginny retreated to her bedroom. She had decided to write down her feelings in an effort to understand them better.   
  
Even thought the last time she journalled her thoughts it had nearly led to her death - and would have if it hadn't been for Harry (she sighed longingly at the memory of being fought for and rescued by her hero) - she knew that she needed to sort some things out.   
  
Being that she was without a Pensieve, putting things down on paper was the best option available to her. So she found the untouched journal she had disregarded the previous Christmas and began to describe what had been happening to her the last few weeks.   
  
~  
  
Ginny's Journal Entry:  
  
~  
  
To start off with, I would like to say that I have never been this exhausted in my life. The dreams have been waking me up every night, and I can never get back to sleep. Even if I can get past the thoughts of the dreams themselves, I lie awake thinking about HP...I wonder what he's doing...if he ever thinks about me...   
  
*deep sigh*   
  
Anyway, I'm writing in this journal to try and figure out what the deal is with the dreams that I've been having. The first dream was so vivid and clear compared to the ones I've had recently.   
  
I had fallen asleep crying over Harry's disappearance. As soon as I was unconscious the nightmare began.   
  
I felt as if I was seeing and hearing things through someone else's eyes and ears; wherever I was it was dark, hot, and wet. I could hear someone saying what sounded like an incantation...a strange sensation came over me. Then all of a sudden I could see others nearby. Someone far away on the ground...other were appearing all around me. The person whose eyes I saw through moved to the figure on the ground - I screamed, but no one heard me. It was Harry.  
  
Words were said, Harry was trying to get away, then he stood before me, looking braver than I could ever have imagined. I watched a hand raise a wand in front of me. The shout I heard next was unmistakably "Avada Kedavra!"   
  
I screamed again as I sat up in bed. At that moment I had been sure that Harry was dead. When I heard that Harry had returned, battered but alive, I couldn't believe my ears, but I was relieved that what I had seen must have just been a dream. Oh, if only it had been! Later, when Professor Dumbledore told us what had happened to Harry that night, I knew I would never sleep peacefully again. I knew that I had seen through the Dark Lord's eyes...and that it was bound to happen again.  
  
~  
  
Tears splashed onto Ginny's journal. She closed her eyes and silently wept before regaining her composure and setting her quill back to work:  
  
Since then the dreams have come every night. The visions are blurrier, the voices indistinguishable, but the atmosphere is always frightening. Wizards in dark, hooded robes, whispered instructions, and repeated use of all three of the unforgivable curses.  
I know what I'm seeing is real, but who'd believe me? And what good would it do anybody? I don't see the future, I see the present. And I can't see anyone's face or understand what's being said.  
  
Then there's the question of why. It has to have something to do with what happened my first year at Hogwart's. Tom Marvolo Riddle took over my mind and left a bit of himself etched into my being. Is it too far-fetched to think that I am now somehow connected to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Does HE know that I watch him every night? Does he feel my presence? Worst of all - if he does know, what are his plans for me?  
  
I'm so scared. Scared of what I'll see tonight when my body gives in to the exhaustion. Scared that this wretched ability of mine could allow me to help fight against the Dark Lord, but that I'm too young and too weak to make a difference. Just like I was too naïve and inexperienced to resist Tom Riddle.  
  
I want to tell Harry...mid-sentence, Ginny's quill fell from her fingers as she collapsed into a fitful sleep.  
  
~  
  
Miles away Harry drifted off to sleep as well, but he had a smile fixed upon his face.  
  
~  
  
Ginny sat up suddenly. Her heart was racing, her head pounding. It took her a few moments to realize that she was safe in her room. Picking up her journal, she realized she had fallen asleep and been having another dream. This one had been almost as real as the first, and nearly as disturbing...  
  
Outside her window, the moon was sailing high; everyone else was surely fast asleep. She decided to go downstairs for a while, writing one last word in her journal before tucking it under her pillow: everything.  
  
~  
  
The next week and a half was uneventful. Ginny's dreams continued, but had resumed their foggy nature. Last night had been no different. Ginny had again awoken in the middle of the night and laid in bed, staring out at the stars until the sun's light made them fade away into the morning sky.  
  
Ginny changed out of her nightgown and made her way to the kitchen for some breakfast. She was the first one up (again), so she was the first to see the post owl that was waiting on the ledge. As she untied the parchment from around brown bird's leg, she realized it was from Hogwart's.  
  
"What's that, Ginny?"  
  
The youngest Weasley jumped; she hadn't heard her mum enter the room.  
  
"It's a letter from Hogwart's."  
  
"Well, let's see it then." Ginny handed the letter over and waited anxiously to learn what it said.  
  
"Oh!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed happily. "Harry's coming to stay with us earlier than usual this summer. Dumbledore says that someone will be escorting him here in a few days. That's interesting...I wonder who it'll be?"  
  
Ginny mumbled in agreement as her cheeks grew rosy. She hurriedly excused herself and ran back to her bedroom. Once there, she headed straight for her journal and began scratching out her emotions with her quill...  
  
~  
  
Ginny's journal:   
  
~  
  
Holy Cricket!   
  
Harry will be HERE in a matter of days! I don't know what I'll do. I still don't know exactly how I feel about him, so I don't know how to act or what to say when he gets here. What am I going to do?   
  
I've loved him for four long years...but is it just a childhood crush or something more? It feels like more. He is such a wonderful person - a great friend, a brave and loyal wizard, and always a gentleman. Not to mention the fact that he's drop-dead gorgeous...   
  
I can't imagine myself ever loving anyone as much as I love him. But I don't see why he would ever want plain, simple, ordinary me, when he could have any witch he wanted...   
  
I suppose I could manage to be happy if I was just his friend. But the possibility of our relationship being so much more makes my heart ache to tell him I love him! I wish I knew how he felt about me.   
  
Perhaps I should have paid more attention in Divination, instead of following Ron's advice and making everything up...   
~  
Harry checked his belongings for the third time, trying to assure himself that he hadn't forgotten anything, and piled his things at the bottom of the stairs. Not knowing how his traveling companion would be arriving, he kept his eyes on the fireplace and his hears straining for the telltale pop of someone apparating. So when a firm knock sounded at the door, he jumped in surprise. When he opened the door and saw who was there, he stared in disbelief. Of all the possible people he had thought might come for him, this wizard had never entered his mind.  
  
~  
  
"Charlie? Aren't you supposed to be in Romania?"  
  
"I just left there, actually. Dumbledore has asked me to take on a special assignment, the first part of which was to deliver you to the Burrow safely."  
  
"What's the next part?" Harry asked curiously. He couldn't think of many things that would tear Charlie away from his beloved dragon-training career.  
  
"Well, I'm going to stay with you, Ron, and everyone else for awhile. A long while, if truth be told. The ministry finally agreed to stationing dragons at Hogwart's, and I'm one of the select few who'll be on hand to help keep them under control."  
  
"Wicked! Hagrid must be so excited! Ron, too, he'll love having you around."  
  
"I hope so. Hagrid is still...um, out of the country, so I may also be substituting for him during Care of Magical Creatures. I had to keep it a secret from Mum and Dad because Dumbledore's worried that the information could leak out if too many people know; they don't even know I've left Romania. And if it reached the wrong ears that I was coming to get you tonight, well, it just wouldn't have been safe for either of us."  
  
"Oh," Harry said quietly, dwelling on the fact that he was being hunted by Voldemort.  
  
Charlie noticed Harry's discomfort and decided to get his mind off the subject, "So, ready to get away from these muggles?"  
  
"Definitely. How are we travelling, anyway?"  
  
"On my bike, of course."  
  
"Your bike?"  
  
"Yeah, my motorcycle. It's the closest the muggles have come to finding as good a way to travel as by broomstick. I couldn't exactly fly here, though, could I?"  
  
"You're probably right. But how are we going to take my things?"  
  
"Well, we'll let Hedwig fly, and then shrink everything else to fit in the storage compartment under the seat."  
  
"Cool."  
  
Harry yelled upstairs that he was leaving, and went outside where Charlie had just finished tucking everything away.  
  
He handed Harry a helmet and they climbed onto the motorcycle. It roared to life and they were soon racing down the motorway.   
  
~  
  
A/N: Songfic to Avril Lavigne's "Things I'll never Say"  
  
~  
  
I'm tugging at my hair  
I'm pulling at my clothes  
I'm trying to keep my cool  
I know it shows  
  
It was Saturday, the day that Harry would arrive, and Ginny had been changing her clothes and messing with her hair all day. After supper, she finally settled on what she thought Harry would find most appealing, and went downstairs to wait for him.  
  
As she twirled a lock of hair round and round her finger, a very familiar rumble grew louder outside. She knew it had to be Charlie on his motorcycle, but didn't stop to think about who might have been with him. When she saw Harry she froze.  
  
I'm staring at my feet  
My checks are turning red  
I'm searching for the words inside my head  
Cause I'm feeling nervous  
Trying to be so perfect  
Cause I know you're worth it  
You're worth it  
Yeah  
  
"Hi," was all that managed to escape her lips.  
  
"Hi? That's all I get from the sister I haven't seen for months?" Charlie exclaimed as he picked Ginny up in a big, brotherly hug.   
  
"Hey, Gin, how's your summer been?" Harry asked casually.  
  
If I could say what I want to say  
I'd say I wanna blow you... away  
Be with you every night  
Am I squeezing you too tight  
If I could say what I want to see  
I want to see you go down  
On one knee  
Marry me today  
Yes, I'm wishing my life away  
With these things I'll never say  
  
"Oh, all right," she blushed, then changed the subject, "Have you two eaten?"  
  
"No, and we're famished. Fancy heating something up for us, sis?"  
  
"Sure. No problem." Ginny retreated to the kitchen, scolding herself for acting like such an idiot.  
  
It don't do me any good  
It's just a waste of time  
What use is it to you  
What's on my mind  
If ain't coming out  
We're not going anywhere  
So why can't I just tell you that I care  
  
"Why can't I?" Ginny mused to herself.  
  
"Why can't you what?" Harry asked as he entered, followed by Charlie.  
  
"Oh! Uh...well...um, never mind, I just remembered."  
  
Cause I'm feeling nervous  
Trying to be so perfect  
Cause I know you're worth it  
You're worth it  
Yeah  
  
As Harry and Charlie ate their belated supper, the rest of the Weasley's trickled in and greeted them with surprised smiles.  
  
Later that night, Ginny crept back downstairs because she hadn't been able to fall asleep.  
She flopped down on the couch and realized she wasn't alone.  
  
~  
  
Ginny had nearly sat on top of Harry. She was grateful for the lack of proper lighting, because she knew her face must be scarlet.  
  
"Can't sleep either, ay?" Harry said, taken aback by the littlest Weasley's entrance.  
  
If I could say what I want to say  
I'd say I wanna blow you... away  
Be with you every night  
Am I squeezing you too tight  
If I could say what I want to see  
I want to see you go down  
On one knee  
Marry me today  
Yes, I'm wishing my life away  
With these things I'll never say  
  
"No, I couldn't. I was thinking about someone and wasn't able to get them off my mind." Ginny admitted, wondering what the heck had possessed her and if her lips would betray her again.  
  
What's wrong with my tongue  
These words keep slipping away  
I stutter, I stumble   
Like I've got nothing to say  
Cause I'm feeling nervous  
Trying to be so perfect  
Cause I know you're worth it  
You're worth it  
Yeah  
Yes I'm wishing my life away with these things I'll never say  
  
If I could say what I want to say  
I'd say I wanna blow you...away  
Be with you every night  
Am I squeezing you too tight  
If I could say what I want to see  
I want to see you go down  
On one knee  
Marry me today  
Yes, I'm wishing my life away  
With these things I'll never say  
These things I'll never say  
  
"Really?" Harry questioned. "So was I. There's this girl - at school - and I think I really like her, but I don't know if we'll ever be more than friends," he finished, as surprised at his openness as Ginny had been about hers.  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?" Ginny said while thinking 'Oh, God, what am I doing?'  
  
"Well, I guess so. You're a girl, so you're probably better at relationship advice than Ron."  
  
Time stood still for Ginny. She was at a crossroads. No matter whom Harry was thinking about, she had two choices: (1) help him and become closer friends with him, or (2) give him bad advice that would increase her chances of him considering her.  
  
As tempting as the latter was, she knew that path would risk losing his trust forever, as well as intentionally making him unhappy. And Virginia Weasley could not bear the guilt she knew she would feel for making Harry Potter be anywhere else than in high spirits.  
And so Ginny made the decision that would ultimately change her life forever.  
  
~  
  
Harry talked to Ginny for hours about how he liked Cho, what he thought about Cho and Cedric, and how he should approach Cho. Ginny listened attentively, giving Harry the same kind of advice she would have given any of her friends. After hours of conversing, the two felt like they had been friends forever. They headed up the stairs and at Ginny's door Harry wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"You're a great friend, Ginny. Thanks for listening to me tonight." He whispered in her ear before coming out of the embrace.  
  
"You're welcome," Ginny's voice managed to produce with out shaking. She was holding back tears of anger, regret, and a broken heart. As her hand turned the knob to her bedroom and Harry had just reached the next set of steps when he turned and spoke again.  
  
"Hey, Gin, would it be alright if...I mean, if I need your advice, could we do this again?"  
A smile on her face, but not willing to trust her voice a second time, Ginny nodded in agreement. Harry grinned at his newfound confidant and resumed climbing the stairs up to Ron's room.  
  
~  
  
No sooner had Ginny shut her door than the tears began to cascade down her freckled cheeks. She lowered herself to the floor at the foot of her bed and hugged her knees to her chest. She was happy that Harry trusted her and considered her a friend, but couldn't stand loving him so much and not being able to tell him.   
  
So she made the decision to end the romance that existed only in her mind. She had read in TeenWitch magazine that one way to achieve "closure" was to write a letter to the person you had issues with, and never send it; with this in mind she took out a sheet of lightweight parchment, and let her quill roam free over its surface.  
  
Dear Harry,   
I've been searching deep down in my soul, and of all the things I've believed in, I just want to get this over with. I've decided that the last three years were just pretend...you were the one I loved, the one thing I've held onto. Now I must say goodbye to you and everything I thought I knew about love.   
  
I'll still get lost in your eyes, and it will seem like I can't live a day without you. Because I want you. But I'm not giving into myself anymore. I'll close my eyes and chase away the thoughts of you as anything other than my friend. It feels like I'm starting all over again.  
But when the stars fall I will lie awake...  
You are my shooting star...my heart will always make a wish for you, but my mind knows that I'll never be able to reach you.  
  
Always and Forever.  
~Ginny  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
A/N: That last bit was adapted from Avril Lavigne's Things I'll Never Say.  
  
Also, I'd really appreciate it if you would respond. I've been writing this for a while and posting it elsewhere, but I was hoping to get some constructive feedback from all the readers here.   
  
Thanks in advance! 


	4. Kindred Spirits

A/N: Hey! Thanks for the reviews! I'm sorry I didn't get this chapter up sooner, I've been busy working on the next two chapters. I hope y'all like this one...let me know!  
Please Review! ~AE~  
  
III. Kindred Spirits  
  
The next morning, Ginny was noticeably composed, especially since she and Harry were having a conversation. Everyone noticed and silently stared at the two as if they had grown extra heads, until the twins broke the silence.  
  
"Oy, who are you, and what'd you do with Ginny?"  
  
"Yeah, and if you went to all the trouble to make a polyjuice potion, you should've known to knock your juice over at least five times by now!"   
  
"You two are such prats." Then a spark came to Ginny's eye, "and I can prove that I'm Ginny, because I know what you were doing last week when -"   
  
"Hey, we were only joking. No need to go spreading stories," George interrupted, blushing.  
Everyone at the table laughed (well, except for Mrs. Weasley, who was eyeing Fred and George suspiciously), and began talking again.  
  
"So what are you two going to do today?" Ginny directed at Harry and Ron.  
  
"Oh, probably de-gnome the garden for mum," Ron answered.  
  
"Sounds good. I'd really like to play Quidditch, too, it seems like forever since I've been on a broom," Harry added. "What about you, Ginny, fancy joining us?"  
  
Ron looked at Harry like he was crazy. Ginny hated flying.  
  
"No, I don't think so," Ginny blushed for the first time that morning.  
  
"Why not?" returned Harry.  
  
"I'm just not too fond of flying. I'd rather have both feet on the ground."  
"Oh, alright then." Harry wondered why he'd never known that about his best friend's little sister.  
  
~  
  
Ginny sat at her desk all morning, finally writing her History of Magic essay as she listened to the rhythmic thumping of gnome's being thrown out of the back garden. Amazed at her ability to so quickly change her attitude towards Harry, she decided that it must have just been a silly crush and since she had realized that, she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore.  
  
As she finished the last inch of her essay, Ginny realized that it was time for lunch. She rolled the parchment up and bounced happily down the stairs. In the living room was someone she hadn't expected to see so soon.  
  
"Hermione?!?!"  
  
"Ginny! I just got here; I was about to go look for you. Your mum's in the kitchen making lunch. Want to walk with me to tell Harry and Ron to come eat?"  
  
"Sure." Once they were outside, Ginny began interrogating Hermione, "So, what was it like?"  
  
"What was what like?" Hermione said innocently.  
  
"You know, being in Bulgaria with Viktor Krum. What happened? I want all the details..."  
  
"Alright, I'll tell you. I have to tell someone or I just might burst."  
  
"What is it, already? I'm dying of anticipation, Herm!"  
  
"Well, it started when-" but just then Ron and Harry ran up shouting excited greetings to Hermione, and the trio shared a hug in light of their reunion.  
  
Ginny would have to wait until later for the "girl talk" session.  
  
~  
  
After lunch, Hermione & Ginny followed the boys (Ron, Harry, Fred, & George) outside. The girls sat under Ginny's favorite tree and watched the others play Quidditch. Since they were out of earshot, Hermione could finally tell Ginny about her adventures in Bulgaria.  
  
"Alright, Hermione, so what happened with Viktor that you're gonna burst about?"  
  
"Well, I took the floo to the Viktor's house. His parents were really nice, but not very talkative. They live in Bansko, which is in the Pirin Mountains. It was so beautiful there! The old architecture was breathtaking! The first week we spent sightseeing: Veliko Târnovo, the medieval capital, the Rila Monastery, a beautiful abbey, and the capital, Sofia. Then we stayed in Varna, by the Black Sea. There were lovely seaside gardens, an opera house, a really wicked archeology museum...oh! And you'll never believe this, there was a street called ul Han Krum that the Roman baths were on, and Viktor said that one of his ancestors was an ancient Roman wizard that had helped design the baths! Magically, of course. Isn't just fascinating how -"  
  
"Hermione!" Ginny yelled, a frustrated look on her face.  
  
"What?"  
  
"I'd love to hear about all the places you saw, but I know there's more to it than that, otherwise you would have told Ron & Harry, too."  
  
Hermione blushed, "You're right. I just got a little carried away with myself, sorry. Oh, Ginny, you're never going to believe this!"  
  
"Oh, get on with it already, Hermione!"  
  
"All right, well...one night when we were strolling through the gardens, Viktor asked me to be his girlfriend!!"  
  
"You're kidding! A professional Quidditch player asked you to be his girlfriend? That's so amazing...please tell me you said yes!"  
  
"At first I said I wasn't sure; I've never really had a relationship before, let alone a long-distance one. But we talked about it for a long time and decided that we could make it work."  
  
"So do you love him, then?" Ginny asked dreamily.  
  
"Love him?" Hermione paused while thinking about this. "I don't know. I mean, I really like him, he's like a big teddy bear at heart, you know...he has a burly exterior, but he's actually very kind and considerate. But...I guess I just always thought that when I fell in love, I would just know. That every part of me would shout out that that's who I was destined to be with forever. But it hasn't happened. At least not yet. I'm not too worried, though, because I read in Wizards are from Mars, Witches are from Venus that sometimes you're friends with a person for a long time, and really like them, before you ever figure out that you're in love."  
  
"Yeah, I've heard that, too." Ginny responded, thinking Maybe it's a good thing I'm just friends with Harry right now...then he'll realize how perfect he is for me...Wait, what am I thinking? I don't love Harry Potter; I just had a simple, school-girl crush. That's all.  
  
"Well, even if I don't end up falling in love with him and marrying him, at least I'll know more about how to act in a relationship when I do meet the man of my dreams." Hermione concluded, just before Ron and Harry came within earshot.  
  
The guys were through practicing for the day, and ready to go back to the house for dinner. After eating, Ginny decided to tuck in early, in hopes that she could actually get some sleep that night. Ron had a few chores to do, and he insisted that Harry and Hermione not help him because they were his guests. (Truthfully, he would have loved their help, but he wasn't sure he was ready to talk to Hermione yet.)  
  
So that left Harry and Hermione alone to catch up on all that had happened to them since they left Hogwart's. Harry told her everything about what had happened at Arabella Figg's house, what Dumbledore had said, and what Charlie would be doing at Hogwart's the coming year. Hermione was very curious about how his studies would be enhanced ("I may have read something about enhanced studies in Hogwart's, A History, but it's at home in my trunk."), but she was even more interested in what was in Dumbledore's package for Arabella, and who the new professors at Hogwart's would be. They pondered these things, but couldn't come up with any feasible answers, so Harry decided he was going to find out what Hermione had been up to.  
  
"So, why haven't you told Ron or me about Bulgaria yet?"  
  
"Well, I was going to, I just wasn't sure how. I had a wonderful time sightseeing," she began, then told Harry what she had told Ginny about the places they visited in Bulgaria.  
  
"So why didn't you want to tell us that?"  
  
"Because he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes." Hermione blurted out, her eyes shut tight for fear of the look on Harry's face.  
  
"Wow; I think that's great."  
  
Hermione opened her eyes slightly into a squint, "You do?"  
  
"Yeah, Krum may be from Durmstrang, but he's pretty nice guy. And if you think he's all right, that's saying something. But I can see why you'd be worried about Ron. He did go a little crazy about Krum last year."  
  
"Honestly, I wish I knew what his problem was. I mean, he mouths off at me for being friends with Viktor, then asks him for his autograph! I'll never understand him. He makes me so angry sometimes, even though I always forgive him. I just hope he won't be too mad. I couldn't bear him not speaking to me."  
  
"Well, if you want, I'll tell Ron for you," Harry offered.  
  
"Tell me what?"  
  
Harry and Hermione stared at Ron, neither knowing how to respond. Harry was the first to speak.  
  
"You see, Ron, it's that..."  
  
"No, Harry. Ron's my best friend. He deserves to hear it from me," Hermione interjected. Then she looked up at her soon-to-be-enraged friend, "Ron, Viktor and I are officially dating. He asked me to be his girlfriend, and -" before she could finish, Ron started yelling.  
  
"Let me guess! You're going to transfer to Durmstrang! To be close to your Vikky-kins!"  
  
"No, Ron! I'd never leave Hogwart's, you, or Harry, you know that! I was GOING to say that I really think that you'd like Viktor, if you'll just give him a chance. He wants to get to know you better - Harry, too - because he knows how important you are to me."  
  
Ron hesitated, in surprise, at the thought of Viktor Krum wanting to get to know a Weasley, but quickly returned to being angry and stubborn.  
  
"Get to know him?!?! You must be joking! Not in this century...I'd rather barf up slugs for a week!"  
  
"That can be arranged," Hermione struck back, her face red and swollen with contempt. She knew Ron wasn't going to take this well, but she didn't foresee his temper giving her this much grief. She turned and ran upstairs so that Ron wouldn't see her crying.  
  
~  
  
Harry sighed, "Ron, when are you going to open your eyes?"  
  
"About what? I can plainly see that Krum's no good, and that if Hermione's with him, she's gonna get hurt. I won't just let that happen!"  
  
"Ron - Krum may be Bulgarian, he may be from Durmstrang. But that doesn't mean he's a bad person. It's our choices that make us who we are," Harry was remembering Dumbledore's words of encouragement to him only weeks before at Hogwart's.   
  
"Krum has made a lot of good choices. And you know Hermione, so you honestly think that she'd go on holiday with - let alone date - someone she didn't trust?"  
  
"I suppose you're right. I just can't stand seeing them together. Something about it just isn't right."  
  
Harry was pretty sure he knew what Ron's problem was, but this wasn't the time to bring it up.  
  
"Whether you agree with it or not, it's her decision, and if you want to remain her friend, you need to respect that."  
  
There was a long, tense silence before Ron responded.  
  
"You're right Harry, I guess I should go and apologize"  
  
~  
  
Ron knocked on the door to Ginny's bedroom, where Hermione always stayed when visiting the Weasley's.  
  
A tear-stained Hermione cracked the door open. She was openly surprised to see Ron. After slipping into the hallway, she shut the door behind her and whispered, "You'd better not start yelling again, Ginny's sleeping."  
  
"I don't want to yell at you, Hermione, I want to apologize...do you mind if we go to my room? I feel silly whispering out here in the corridor."  
  
"Alright..." she said slowly, wondering what Harry could have done to calm Ron down so quickly.  
  
~  
  
Ron motioned for Hermione to sit down on his bright orange bed, then sat beside her and turned to face her.  
  
"Hermione, I don't like you dating Krum. But..." he breathed deeply, preparing himself for what he was about to say, "But, if he makes you happy, I'll do my best to act properly towards him. I'm sorry I acted like such a prat. Will you forgive me?"  
  
Hermione leaned over to hug him and said, "Yes, I'll always forgive you, Ron. I don't know what I'd do with out you. Thanks for giving Viktor a chance."  
  
At that moment there was a knock at the door, and Ron and Hermione broke apart just as Harry poked his head in.  
  
"Are you two friends again, yet?"  
  
Ron nodded, while Hermione grinned a silent 'thank you' at Harry.  
  
"Good, because I just had a fantastic idea."  
  
"Which is?"  
  
"My studies are being enhanced because Dumbledore wants me to be prepared if anything happens, if I encounter Voldemort again, right?"  
  
"Right...." Ron drawled out, not liking where this conversation was headed.  
  
"So," continued Harry, " I thought that, as an extra precaution, the three of us could become amimagi, just like my father and his friends did."  
  
Harry's announcement was met with the responses he expected, but not from who he expected. Ron was first to speak.  
  
"Harry! That's dangerous...what if we mess up and don't transform properly? People die all the time!"  
  
"Oh, honestly, Ron, it's not as dangerous as the ministry makes everyone think," Hermione began, "Viktor was telling me -"  
  
"Viktor? What does he know about transforming?" Ron spat back.  
  
"Have you forgotten the second task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament already?" she returned coolly.   
  
  
"Oh, well, alright, but he only managed to transform his head!"  
  
"That's all he was trying to transform. Anyway, he can transform fully; he has even applied to register himself with the Bulgarian ministry of magic." Hermione finished haughtily. Before Ron could stick his foot further into his mouth, Harry interceded.  
  
"That's enough, you two. I know it's dangerous, but I after all we've done, and the fact that one of us is the cleverest witch Hogwart's has ever seen, I don't see why we couldn't pull it off."   
Harry looked at his two best friends hopefully. Hermione was blushing slightly at the complement he had paid her, and Ron had his face contorted in deep thought, before he finally broke into a mischievous grin and replied.  
  
"This is going to wicked fun. What do we do first?"  
  
~  
  
The trio sat and discussed how to go about teaching themselves the complex procedure involved in becoming an animagus. After making a list of books they would try to buy when they got their things for school, Hermione told them what she knew about the subject, and they excitedly wondered what animals they would become.  
  
Over the next few weeks, they continued planning and discussing their venture, and Harry occasionally broke from the group to ask Ginny further questions about relationships. Hermione tried to speak of Viktor as little as possible, but sends him an owl (and receives one back) every day or two.  
  
~  
  
It's now the eve of the Weasley clan's, plus two, yearly trek to Diagon Alley to buy supplies for the coming year at Hogwart's. It had been a seemingly ordinary day, had you overlooked the excited glances and frequent grins that passed between Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They couldn't wait to visit Flourish & Blott's the following day. In order to wake up as early as possible, they all went to bed before the sun set. Ginny decided to go to bed as well, and after she and Hermione said goodnight to the boys, Hermione had a favor to ask.  
  
"Ginny, do you have anything in particular you're planning to do in London tomorrow?"  
  
"Besides getting my new books and such? No."  
  
"Well, Ron and I were wondering if...if you would mind distracting Harry for an hour or two. We're planning a surprise party for his birthday next week and we need to get decorations and things. Would you mind?"  
  
"Of course not! That's a great idea. Harry's never had a birthday party before, has he?"  
  
"Not that I know of. Thanks so much, Ginny!"  
  
"No problem. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help."  
  
The two girls drifted off to sleep; Hermione dreamt of Viktor...Ginny's dreams, however, were not so pleasant...  
  
~  
  
Harry sat up in bed suddenly, stifling a scream. His scar was burning like mad; he vaguely recalled the visions that had awoken him...had that been Lucius Malfoy he'd seen cowering away from...Voldemort?  
  
Harry rubbed his forehead, and slipped out of Ron's room. Whenever his scar woke him up, he knew it was no use to try and go back to sleep, so he tried to find something to preoccupy himself until the stinging subsided.  
  
As he reached Ginny & Hermione's door, he heard muffled voices and...someone crying? His natural drive at being a protector led him to open the door. Hermione was sleeping peacefully. Ginny was fidgeting and talking in slurred phrases. Harry managed to catch the words "diary," "Malfoy," and the curse "Crucio!"  
  
"What the bloody hell..." the boy-who-lived muttered under his breath. Ginny couldn't be having the same dreams that he had been...could she? Determined to find out, he tiptoed over to her bed and sat beside her restless body.   
  
As he leaned in to whisper her name, the light of the moon revealed her brow glistening with beads of perspiration and her eyes darting rapidly beneath their closed lids. When he placed his hands on her shoulders, with the intent of shaking her awake gently, his scar seared as it did only when he was near Voldemort.   
  
The connection had an affect on Ginny as well, because immediately her eyes were open wide. Their gaze was locked for seconds, minutes, maybe even hours. Looking back, they would never be sure; time had stopped in that instant. Harry and Ginny now knew that they were not alone - they both shared the same visions of the Dark Lord's proceedings. 


	5. Dreams and Diagon Alley

__

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! I have the next chapter ready to post, and chapter 6 is nearly complete.  
I would like to thank my many associate muses: Auror198, Phoenixfox86, LittleLotte, and Angeli0722 (in no particular order ~_^)

Please review! Thanks for reading!!! ~AE~

****

IV. Dreams & Diagon Alley

  
Still clasping her shoulders, Harry whispered, "We need to talk." Ginny nodded as Harry stood and reached his hand down to help her up. Once upright, she put her dressing gown on and followed Harry silently down the stairs. She sank, still shaking, into the welcoming cushions of the couch, while Harry went and prepared her a cup of tea.   
  
"Here, this should help calm your nerves," he said, handing her the steaming mug.   
  
"Thanks," she said as she wrapped her cold fingers around it. "So how much did you see? In your dream, I mean."   
  
"Not too much. I was standing in the middle of a room, and I could see Lucius Malfoy backing into a corner. Between us, facing Malfoy, was a tall wizard in dark robes. I couldn't make out who he was, but I'm willing to bet it was Vol – You-Know-Who."   
  
He stopped himself from saying "Voldemort" so as to avoid upsetting Ginny even further. Ginny didn't miss the reference, though, and smiled at him for the sentiment before confirming his suspicion.   
  
"It was Voldemort, Harry. Yes, I said his Voldemort. I figure if I have to see through his eyes every time I sleep, I should take a leaf out of your book and call him by his name."   
  
"You actually see through his eyes? How? Why? How long has this been going on?"   
  
"I wish I knew, Harry. All I know is what I've dreamt. It all started when the Chamber of Secrets was opened. I started having nightmares about...about what I had done..." Ginny hung her head with guilt. "Then, after it was all over, I had occasional dreams about that night in the chamber; the night that you rescued me. About a year ago I started having nightmares every night. During the third task of the tournament, when they said that you and Cedric were missing, I...I was really upset, and I went to my dormitory. I cried myself to sleep and... and then I saw..." Ginny couldn't finish because she had begun to sob.   
  
Harry comforted her and soon she calmed down enough to continue.   
  
"I saw you Harry. I saw you in the graveyard. I felt the hatred seething through Voldemort's veins. I heard him...I heard him trying to kill you." Harry's eyes were huge with astonishment. He remembered that night all too clearly, and he couldn't imagine how much it had frightened Ginny.   
  
"I had no idea. I'm so sorry you've been going through this, Gin. I wish you had told me sooner." Unlike his normal reaction of anger at being left out of the loop, Harry was sad that Ginny had been dealing with such a dark and painful secret all alone.   
  
"I wanted to tell you, especially since the tournament, but I didn't want you to feel responsible. You take on so much already that's not your fault." 

She looked at him with ..._respect? ...adoration?_ Harry wasn't sure. 

"Well, when Voldemort cast the curse, I woke up. I thought you were done for. I was so relieved to find out that you were all right. I thought my dreams would go back to the way they had been...that my vision had just been a fluke. Instead, my dreams are different every night. I always see from Voldemort's point of view…sometimes the dreams are very clear, sometimes blurred. Most of the time I can't understand more than a few words of what's being said, however the hexes and curses are always clear – as if seeing the effects of them wasn't bad enough," she shuddered.   
  
Harry's eyes filled with sorrow as the pain in Ginny's cut into his heart. He held her as she cried, while holding back his tears of sympathy for her.   
  
Ginny wasn't holding anything back. After years of damming up her emotions, her revelations to Harry had opened the floodgates to her heart, and she didn't possess the strength or will power to fight the waters of truth anymore. 

Eventually, Ginny's tears ran dry, and she looked into Harry's eyes once again. They were both exhausted, physically and emotionally, so they decided to return to bed and talk again the next day.   
  
Once again it was the middle of the night and the two were at Ginny's door.   
  
Harry tipped her chin up so that she was looking at him, his eyes reaching deep into her soul. He knew he was terribly lucky to have such a sweet, caring person as a friend.   
  
"Ginny, you're a really special person, you know that? We'll find a way to fix this, I promise." He leaned forward…and kissed her forehead.   
  
"Ron's like a brother to me, Ginny…and so you're the closest thing I have to a sister. I'll do everything I can to get you sleeping soundly again." 

Ginny was very confused. She wrote a quick entry in her journal by the moonlight:   
  
_Tonight I finally decided that I'll never love anyone like I love Harry. Why did he have to go and make things so complicated!?! He's do damn caring, and compassionate, and…oh bloody hell, the only thing WRONG with him is the fact that he can't see that I can be so much more than a surrogate sister to him. If that's the way he feels, I guess I'll just have to deal with it. If I can't have him, so be it. I won't go making a nun of myself…I'll just get on with my life…Yes, that's it. I need to move on. Hogwart's is full of wizards that I could stand to date, so why should I stay single for HIM?   
  
~Ginny_

~

The sun rose early on the Burrow, pleasantly waking Hermione and Ron, and forcing Ginny and Harry to pull their duvets over their heads in defiance of the dawn's arrival. Those awake tugged and tickled the two sleepyheads until the latter (reluctantly) arose and got ready for the trip to Diagon Alley.   
  
Once everyone was dressed and fed, they lined up in front of the fireplace and one by one shouted their destination into the Coke-bottle green flames.   
  
~   
  
After everyone had dusted the soot off of themselves in the Leaky Cauldron, they headed to Gringott's, the wizarding bank. Once they had made all the necessary withdrawals, and in Hermione's case exchanges, Mrs. Weasley relayed instructions for the day.   
  
"Now, we're going to have to split up if we're to get everything done today. I expect you all to stick together – at the very least stay in pairs. When you're finished shopping, wait in the parlor of the Leaky Cauldron. Understood?"   
  
A chorus of _Yes, Mum_'s rang out, and the six Hogwart's students stood on the corner, deciding where to go first. Fred and George, after quickly sizing up Ron, took off for _Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions_. Harry grinned, sure in the fact that the twins were fulfilling their promise to him that was made at the start of the summer holidays. 

Turning back to his friends' conversation, he realized that Ron and Hermione were arguing (again) and that Ginny was standing there trying to figure out how to stop them.   
  
"I say we should go to _Flourish & Blott's_ first, before they run out of anything important."   
  
"Hermione," Ron pleaded, "do you really want to lug around all those books? I can't imagine how many there'll be, what with O.W.L.'s this year and all."   
  
"All the more reason to get them now, O.W.L.'s are – " she began to huff before Harry spoke up and interrupted her.   
  
"Enough! Let's just work our way down the road. _Flourish and Blott's_ **won't** run out of the books we need, because they know how many students are at Hogwart's! And, if necessary, we'll just have them temporarily shrunk until we get back to the Burrow, all right? Honestly, you two make blast-ended skrewts out of flobberworms!"   
  
After apologetic glances all around, the foursome began their trek down the alley, stopping in a variety of shops to find all the potion ingredients, quills, ink, parchment, books, and other supplies for the year. They finally reached the end of the street; standing outside the Leaky Cauldron, Ginny remembered that Ron & Hermione still needed to get supplies for Harry's party and quickly generated a plan of action. 

"Oh my goodness! Hermione, didn't you say you needed to get something at the Magical Menagerie for Crookshanks?" she said while rolling her eyes suggestively towards Harry.   
  
Catching the drift, Hermione expertly replied, "Oh, yes! And Ron, you need something for Pig, don't you?"   
  
"What the –" Ron began, then Hermione stepped on his foot and shot daggers at him with her eyes. "Oh! Right! The – er – thing for Pig...I forgot."   
  
"Harry, is it all right if we leave our packages with you and Ginny? The Menagerie is all the way back past Gringott's, and we'd make it there and back ever so much faster empty-handed."   
  
Harry, glad at the opportunity to speak to Ginny alone, didn't notice the obviously feigned innocence of his friends.   
  
"Sure, no problem. Fancy a sundae from Fortesque's, Gin?"   
  
"Sounds great," she replied as she winked at Hermione and Ron, delighted that their plan had succeeded.   
  
~   
  
"Whew! That was close! I can't believe we almost forgot!" Hermione whispered to Ron as they walked away.   
  
"Yeah. You know what's strange though? Ginny hates being called "Gin" – she once even told me she'd rather be called Virginia – but she didn't even bat an eye when Harry called her that. I swear my sister gets weirder every year. I wish she'd make up her mind."   
  
"Hmmm…that is odd. Maybe she was just too preoccupied with making sure you & I got away from them to notice."   
  
"I guess so..." 

~

Ginny and Harry found a secluded booth at the back of the ice cream parlor where they dumped all their packages and squeezed in across from each other.   
  
Harry ordered a traditional sundae, but Ginny was a bit more decadent, requesting _Florean's Famous "Dark Side of the Moon" Chocolate Lover's Sundae_.   
  
_Mmmmmm...there's nothing like chocolate to lift a girl's spirits_, she thought as she savored her first bite into the rich chocolate ice cream that was drowned in chocolate syrup, covered with chocolate shavings, and topped with chocolate covered cherries. 

"I think I have an idea why you're having all those visions when you're sleeping."   
  
"You do? What is it?"   
  
"Well, in the Chamber, Tom Riddle told me that you had poured your heart into the diary...into him...and that it made him stronger. It allowed him to pour himself into you. When the diary was destroyed, so was he: your strength was returned to you, and his suffering was taken away from you. We assumed that everything was back to normal.   
  
"But perhaps...perhaps something of him remained...an impression...a scar marking his presence; my scar links me to Voldemort. So, what if the scar that the younger Voldemort gave you does the same thing? Dumbledore told me that a part of Voldemort was left behind with my scar, and that's why I can speak parseltongue and such, but I see things as an outside observer. Since Riddle actually became a part of you for a while, when you see things you do it by becoming a part of him.   
  
"Does that make any sense, whatsoever?"   
  
"Brilliantly perfect sense, Harry. Only, how can we stop it?"   
  
"I don't know. We need to test out my theory, if that's possible."   
  
"I hope it is," Ginny sighed. They ate the remainder of their sundaes in silence, frequently flashing nervous grins at each other. As Ginny licked the last of her chocolate-y dessert from her spoon, she glanced at the clock on the wall and exclaimed, "Oh! Look at the time, Harry, we'd better go before Mum starts to worry." _And before I say anything I'll regret, like the fact that you're the reason I needed all that chocolate..._

Out of breath when they reached the others, it took Ginny and Harry a minute to get settled before they could apologize for their tardiness.   
  
"Not a problem, dears, Ron and Hermione only just got back themselves."   
  
Noticing the package Ron was holding, Harry innocently inquired, "What ya got there, mate?"   
  
"Fred and George bought me a new set of dress robes! They said they needed someone to be their Hogwart's liaison next year for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and they didn't want that person to be stuck with dress robes unbecoming of a proper businessman." Ron whispered the last part so that Mrs. Weasley wouldn't hear of Ron's involvement with the twins' activities.   
  
"Wicked." Harry grinned, thinking, _leave it to Fred and George to come up with the perfect excuse._

~

Over the next few weeks Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked through the books concerning animagi that they had gotten, and began working towards their goal. When Harry slipped off with Ginny to discuss dreams or how to talk to girls (_If only he would realize he IS talking to a girl!_ Ginny's thoughts would scream), Ron and Hermione would carry on with plans for the birthday party, and began recruiting the help of others and figuring out whom to invite. And now, at long last, July 31st was only a day away. 

~

Ginny lay awake in bed. Hermione had snuck downstairs with Ron to work on some last minute party business, and so the littlest redhead couldn't work on her plans for Harry's birthday present. Maybe she'd be able to finish it in the morning...if not, she would just have to give it to him late. She couldn't rush it...if it wasn't prepared just right, her months of research and weeks of work would have been in vain... 

~

The whole of the household was in co-hoots preparing for Harry's party. Charlie got him out of the way early by offering him Quidditch pointers (Charlie was, after all, the best seeker Gryffindor had ever seen before Harry, and he had a lot more experience on a broom).   
  
Ron tried to help decorate, but was quickly shooed away by Hermione ("Men have absolutely no eye for decorating!") and Ginny ("Especially those named Weasley!"). So Ron went to help his mum and dad.   
  
Mrs. Weasley was busy in the kitchen, creating a small feast, while her husband puttered around setting up magical versions of some muggle party games he had researched.   
  
Fred and George were...well, no one was sure exactly where they were, but they had said that they were working on something for the party when they left.   
  
At long last, everything was ready, and Ron shot sparks into the air to signal to Charlie that the guests had arrived. 

~

Charlie saw the sparks jet up into the air behind Harry. "Harry, care to call it a morning? I'm ready for lunch!"   
  
"Me too! Thanks for all the tips, Charlie, I think I really have the hang of the Wronski Feint now."   
  
"Anytime, Mr. Potter…I can't have my successor lacking in my best moves, now, can I?"   
  
Just before they reached the back yard, Charlie pulled his wand out of his robes and muttered a few rather useful little charms. Harry came to a sudden halt and turned to face him.   
  
"What'd you do that for?" uttered a very surprised Harry.   
  
"You'll see." 

Charlie had cleaned Harry up and transformed his clothes from practice sweats to a party-worthy dress shirt and slacks; then he actually managed to slightly tame his wind-blown hair.   
  
As a second thought, Charlie performed the same series of helpful incantations on himself before they stepped through the gate and into the yard.   
  
"SURPRISE!!!!!" yelled a crowd of witches and wizards. Harry was as speechless as if he had just been stupefied.   
  
Especially when he saw who all had come to wish him a happy birthday. 

The Weasley's and Hermione were there, of course, as well as the Gryffindor Quidditch team and Harry & Ron's dorm-mates at Hogwart's, Seamus Finnigan, Neville Longbottom, and Dean Thomas. Arabella Figg was standing next to Mrs. Weasley and in front of Professor McGonagall. There were other students there as well: Justin Finch-Fletchey, Susan Bones, the Patil sisters, Lavender Brown, a group of people Harry knew but couldn't place a name with...   
  
And Cho. 

Harry thanked Hermione and Ron for being such incredibly deceptive friends, hugged all the Weasley's and thanked them for being accomplices, and then greeted the rest of the guests. When he got to Cho, he did his best to relax and act normal, but his face still ended up flushing slightly.   
  
"Hi, Cho. How have you been?"   
  
"All right, I guess. I've been a bit lonely this summer. I was so happy when I got the owl about your birthday. I couldn't wait to see you...you and everyone else." Now Cho was blushing.

Mrs. Weasley happened to pick this moment to invite everyone over to the tables that she had covered with all of Harry's favorite snacks and treats. Cho started walking with Harry, but was called back by another Ravenclaw girl Harry recognized as a fifth year.   
  
"Hey Cho, I need to ask you something!" the brown-haired girl with chestnut eyes demanded urgently.   
  
"Be right there, Katie! Sorry, Harry, that's my friend Katie Panson, I'd better go see what she needs."   
  
"No problem. I'll talk to you later, ok?" _Wow, this is easier than I thought it was going to be - even though my stomach feels like it's riding a Firebolt through a hurricane_, Harry thought.   
  
"Sure." Cho grinned back. 

~

"What did you need, Katie?" Cho asked sweetly, hiding her disappointment about having to leave Harry's side. She was still upset over losing Cedric, but her parents had sent her to therapy at St. Mungo's and she was ready to move on with her life.   
  
"Cho, I just have to know...are Ron and Hermione dating? They seem awfully chummy..."   
  
"Well of course they're chummy, Katie, they've been friends since their first year. But I think I heard Lavender tell Padma that Hermione's dating Viktor Krum."   
  
"Wow...so Ron's not spoken for then?"   
  
"I don't suppose so...Katie! You fancy him don't you! Why didn't you tell me?"   
  
"You're one to talk! You didn't tell me you had your sights set on Harry!"   
  
"Touché...hmmm...I think I have a plan..." Cho began with a grin.

~

Harry made his way to the table and began to pile his plate with sandwiches. Arabella Figg jumped in line behind him.   
  
"Harry, "Snuffles" wanted me to tell you that he was sorry he couldn't be here for the party, but that you should stay up a little later than usual tonight." She said with a wink.   
  
"All right, thanks." _I get to see Sirius tonight! This is going to be the best birthday of my life!_   
  
~   
  
Harry joined Ron and Hermione on the ground, leaning up against the garden wall. Harry thanked them again for planning such a wonderful surprise for his birthday.   
  
"You should thank Ginny, too. If it hadn't been for her, we probably wouldn't have been able to pull it off without you noticing." Hermione informed him.   
  
"Really? Wow. Thanks for letting me know. I will."   
  
Just then Cho walked up with Katie. "Is it ok if we join you?"   
  
"Of course," said Harry.   
  
The two Ravenclaw girls sat between Harry and Ron and across from Hermione, making a circle of sorts. Ron was too lost in his own thoughts, absentmindedly studying the way Hermione delicately ate, to notice that Katie was trying to start a conversation with him. 

Ron's gaze was broken when Hermione suddenly jumped up and ran towards the house. His eyes followed her path and found her destination. _Oh bloody hell!_ he thought.   
  
"Krum's here."   
  
Harry had by now turned away from Cho and realized this as well. He gave Ron a look that said _BE NICE_.   
  
"Harry! Hap-vee Beerthday!"   
  
"Thanks, Viktor! I'm surprised you're here. Doesn't Bulgaria have a match tomorrow against France? You should be practicing!"   
  
"Ah..vell...I haff not announced it yet, but I haff dee-cided to quit playing profess-y-nul Quidditch."   
  
"WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?" Hermione and Ron shouted in unison.   
  
"But you're the best professional seeker there is!" Ron continued, while Hermione said "Viktor, you love Quidditch, how could you give it up?"   
  
"Vell...I wuz thinking much this summer about vat Dumbled-door said at ze feast, and I haff decided that I should help him as much as I can. So I veel be coming to Hogwart's this year." 

Krum went on to say that he wasn't sure exactly what he would be doing at Hogwart's. He was hoping to meet with Dumbledore and discuss the matter soon.   
  
~   
  
Once everyone was more or less finished with lunch, it was time for cake (chocolate, of course) and presents. Harry was so excited about all of the Quidditch paraphernalia (including a wicked dragon's hide vest from Fred and George that was supposed to soften the sting of being hit by a bludger), clothes that would actually fit him, a few books (from Hermione), and various wizarding treats and pranks, that he didn't notice there wasn't a gift from Ginny.   
  
All this time Hermione and Viktor were being quite the cute couple, attached at the hip and holding hands; he would whisper things in her ear and she would giggle back a response.   
  
~   
  
Ron and Harry finally got a moment to speak privately when the girls (Hermione, Cho, and Katie) went to go "freshen up" and Viktor went to refill his and Hermione's drinks.   
  
"If I have to listen to Hermione's bubbly laughter at the ridiculous way Krum says her name one more time, I think I'm gonna be sick." Ron blurted out as soon as no one else was in earshot.   
  
"So find a way to distract yourself, mate. I think Cho's friend Katie would be more than willing to spend some time with you." Harry suggested, fulfilling the whispered promise he had made to Cho just moments before.   
  
"What do you mean by that?"   
  
"Well, since you obviously didn't notice – she's been trying to flirt with you all afternoon."   
  
Ron's ears took on a bright pink hue. "She has?"   
  
Harry could only nod in affirmation due to the fact that Cho and Katie were now approaching. Hermione had been intercepted by Viktor halfway across the lawn and the two were headed for the garden gate. Ron scowled at their vanishing forms before turning to Katie and flashing her that famous Weasley grin.   
  
"So what's next on the agenda?" Cho inquired of Harry.   
  
"Don't ask me, I didn't plan anything. What are we doing next, Ron?"   
  
Fortunately for the teenage boy making eyes at a certain brown-haired girl, someone else provided an answer...

It was George Weasley, whose voice had been magically amplified so that everyone could hear him.   
  
"May I have your attention, ladies and gentlemen! I am proud to announce the premiere performance of Hogwart's very own dungeon band…the Floo Fighters!"   
  
The witches and wizards looked somewhat surprised, but very excited, to hear about the band, which was headed up by the twins' best mate Lee Jordan. As the group began to play, everyone started pairing up to dance, while Fred and George Weasley took care of creating a concert-type atmosphere: smoke billowing on the ground, disco lights flashing from nowhere, and the occasional small explosion. Viktor and Hermione were at the center of the crowd and, spotting them, Ron asked Katie if she'd like to dance. Once on the dance floor, he made sure that they were close enough to Hermione that she would see him.   
  
Harry nervously asked Cho if she was up to dancing, and she smiled enthusiastically and took his hand in hers. They began to groove to Floo Fighters, much to Ginny's dislike. She was watching them longingly, wishing she could trade places with that not-good-enough-for-Harry Ravenclaw. She knew she would start to cry if she kept watching them, so she retreated into the house to wallow in self-pity.   
  
Little did she know that someone was watching her. 

Once inside, Ginny retreated to the last place anyone would think to look for her, her father's study. Trying to keep her tears at bay, she scanned the bookshelf, found the book that had given her the notion for Harry's birthday present (_well, late birthday present since it's not finished yet_, she thought), and sunk into a chair with it. She mindlessly turned the pages, trying to distract herself from the image of Harry and Cho dancing so…closely…out of her mind. She had almost reached the page she was looking for when there was a light knock at the study door.   
  
_Oh great,_ she thought, _Mum's seen me slip in here and I'll bet she wants to have one of those damned annoying chats about what's bothering me. I guess I'd better just get it over with. If I can smile through giving Harry dating advice, this should be a piece of cake._ Ginny took a deep breath and cleared her throat.   
  
"Yes? Come in."   
  
The door creaked open. But the person standing there was not anything close to whom Ginny had been expecting. Dumbfounded as she was, she still managed to squeak out, "W-What are _you_ doing in here?"

The door creaked open. But the person standing there was not anything close to whom Ginny had been expecting. Dumbfounded as she was, she still managed to squeak out, "W-What are _you_ doing in here? Justin, isn't it?" The boy nodded.   
  
"Yes. I'm sorry if I disturbed you. I just…well, I saw you leave the party so abruptly and I wanted to make sure you were alright."   
  
"But, why…why would you want to see if I was alright? I nearly killed you two and half years ago."   
  
"Haha…Yeah, well, I was meaning to talk to you about that. I always wanted to tell you that I didn't blame you – that I forgave you, actually – but I never really had a chance to talk to you privately. Until now, that is."   
  
Mr. Finch-Fletchey's words went straight to the heart of our Miss Weasley. What it was about him, she wasn't sure yet, but she had a feeling she was going to like it. She smiled warmly at him, forgetting all thoughts of why her eyes were so moist, and offered him a seat next to her with the wave of her hand.   
  
"Talk away…" 

Justin sat on the ottoman that paired to the oversized chair that Ginny was curled up in. He couldn't believe that he was actually going through with this. True, she had almost killed him, but since then he had seen her for what she was: an honest, kind, sweet girl who never had things go her way, yet always managed to smile through it. He wished that he could have that kind of optimism.   
  
_I wanted to be like you ~ I wanted everything_   
  
So he started watching her from a distance. He saw the way she kept tabs on her brothers and scolded them like a mother hen, despite being younger than they were. He realized that she was always there for her friends when they needed a shoulder to cry on…and that she never went to them when she was upset. He witnessed innumerable events when Ginny brightened the days of those around her, and he longed to be someone that would make her smile.   
  
_So I tried to be like you ~ And I got swept away_

"Well, I was upset at first about being petrified, but I knew that it wasn't really your fault. Anyone could have been pulled into You-Know-Who's trap. And I know that you'd never do anything to hurt anyone…well…except maybe Cho," he grinned mischievously at his last words. Ginny blushed.   
  
"I don't have a clue as to what you're implying," she defended herself.   
  
"It's alright, Ginny. I know that you like Harry. And even if I didn't, those looks you were giving Chang were a dead giveaway."   
  
"Was I that obvious? I'm not so much jealous of Cho as I am fed up with Harry. I don't know how the best seeker Hogwart's has ever seen could be so bloody blind!" Ginny began pouring her heart out. It felt good to finally tell someone her feelings. "All he can see me as is some kind of surrogate _sister_! As much as I like him, I've given up on it ever amounting to anything. I need to move on with my life while I still can."   
  
"Oh?" Justin questioned, raising an eyebrow. He was saddened at the way her heart was obviously breaking, and excited by the opportunity that was now presented to him. He watched her, with her eyes cast downward, fiddle with a loose string on the arm of the chair. He reached out and took her delicate hands in his. Their eyes met.   
  
_I didn't know that it was so cold   
And you needed someone to show you the way   
So I took your hand and we figured out   
That when the tide comes ~ I'd take you away_

"I can help you, if you like."   
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"Well, you're not going to feel any better if you stay cooped up in here, or if you return to the party. Do you want to go somewhere else where we can talk?"   
  
Ginny looked anew upon Justin Finch-Fletchey. He was no Harry Potter, but he wasn't exactly a Neville Longbottom, either.   
  
She managed a small smile and uttered, "That'd be nice."   
  
_If you want to ~ I can save you   
I can take you away from here   
So lonely inside ~ So busy out there   
And all you wanted was somebody who cares_

Ginny knew she still loved Harry, and that her heart could never belong to another. But if she couldn't have _him_, she would have to settle for whoever came along. Justin seemed like a guy who could help her to feel better about herself, especially now when she needed it the most. She wanted so terribly to know what it was like to be held by someone that cared about you…someone who could help you learn how to exist when your heart was no longer your own.   
  
_I'm sinking slowly ~ So hurry hold me   
Your hand is all I have to keep me hanging on   
Please can you tell me ~ So I can finally see   
Where you go when you're gone_   
  
"So where do you want to go?" Justin asked.   
  
_If you want to ~ I can save you   
I can take you away from here   
So lonely inside ~ So busy out there   
And all you wanted was somebody who cares _  
  
  
"Diagon Alley," Ginny answered without hesitation. She figured if she was getting out of the Burrow, she might as well see to finishing her gift for Harry.   
  
"Your wish is my command."   
  
_All you wanted was somebody who cares   
If you need me you know I'll be there   
Oh, yeah ~ If you want to ~ I can save you   
I can take you away from here   
So lonely inside ~ So busy out there   
And all you wanted was somebody who cares   
Please can you tell me ~ So I can finally see   
Where you go when you're gone_

Ginny went upstairs to grab her cloak and her wand, and decided at the last minute to leave Hermione a note so that her friend could cover for her if her absence was noticed. She doubted it would be, since she had been sneaking off to London numerous times to work on Harry's gift. But one could never be too careful.   
  
She joined Justin in the deserted living room and, after one last glance through the window sheers at Harry enjoying himself, she preceded her escort into the hearth and proclaimed, "Diagon Alley!"


	6. The Heartfasting

**V. The Heartfasting**

Ginny landed gracefully in the Leaky Cauldron, where she walked over to the barkeep, Tom, to chat while she awaited Justin's arrival.   
  
"Miss Weasley! Long time, no see; I was starting to worry!"   
  
"Hullo, Tom! I've just been busy. How's business?"   
  
"Eh, it's been slow all summer, but the closer the new school year gets, the more customers come through. Speaking of customers, a certain friend of yours just left. She's been asking if you –" Tom was cut short by Ginny's glare as Justin approached. 

In defiance of her calm exterior, Ginny's mind raced with the abbreviated message that Tom had just given her. Was the potion finally ready? Could it actually be time to cast the last incantations and realize the moment she had been alternately dreading and looking forward to for weeks upon end?   
  
"So, Gin, what do you want to do now that we're here?"   
  
"Please call me Ginny. Let's just walk around and see what's going on."   
  
"Sounds like a plan, _Ginny_," Justin complied, not realizing the significance of her request.   
  
~   
  
As they squeezed past the numerous vendors and shoppers in the street, Ginny constructed a plan to visit her friend and accomplice. Content that she'd be able to pull it off, Ginny decided to enjoy herself until it was time to part ways with Justin.

The two spent the remainder of the afternoon window shopping and getting to know each other better. By five o'clock, lunch seemed very far away, so they returned to the Leaky Cauldron for tea.   
  
"Ginny, I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with you. Last year I always wondered what it'd be like to spend the day in Hogsmeade with you, but I never had the courage to ask you." Justin admitted while they sat in a back corner of the pub, waiting for their food to arrive.   
  
Ginny blushed slightly. "I had a great time today, too. You really lifted my spirits. And – if you still want to – I'd love to go to Hogsmeade with you this year."   
  
Justin grinned with delight at her response as their dinner was placed before them. As they ate, the fledgling couple began to make plans for their upcoming date in the wizarding village that neighbored Hogwart's. 

When their plates had been cleared and the bill settled, Justin and Ginny walked over to the fireplace. They stood there awkwardly for a few moments, neither knowing exactly what to say. Justin was the first to find his voice.   
  
"Well, I guess I'll see you on the Hogwart's Express?" he asked hopefully.   
  
"That would be wonderful. If I don't find you on the platform, will you save me a seat in your compartment?"   
  
"Sure," Justin whispered, gazing into her eyes. He couldn't believe he was making all these plans with the girl he'd fallen in love with over the past few years. He was in such a stupor, he almost didn't notice that Ginny was about to step into the blazing green fire.   
  
"Ginny, wait!"   
  
_Damn,_ Ginny thought, _I almost got away._   
  
"Yes?" she said as she turned back to him.   
  
"I just wanted to wish you a safe trip home." He kissed her cheek, making it flush brightly.   
  
"Thanks, I will." She smiled as sweetly as she could to disguise the guilt she felt at not being able to fully reciprocate his feelings...or his honesty.   
  
She stepped into the midst of the fire and whispered her destination so that only the flames that licked at her robes could hear... 

~

Only a few guests remained at the Burrow, most having made their good-byes after the Floo Fighters finished their set. The trio and their dates worked on cleaning up, despite Mrs. Weasley's insistence that she would take care of it.   
  
They paired off and split up looking for stray chocolate frogs (some had managed to jump over the garden wall), filibuster fireworks confetti, and other rubbish from the party.   
  
Harry and Cho decided to look around outside the yard, leaving the other four to themselves. Hermione and Viktor were holding hands and stealing kisses the whole time. Ron was visibly sickened.   
  
"A mouthful of slugs must taste better than Krum does," he whispered to Katie. "Come on, let's go see what Harry and Cho are up to," he continued, taking Katie's hand and leading her through the gate. (Hermione's piercing gaze followed them as long as it could.) 

Once they had left earshot of the rest, Harry asked Cho if she'd come look behind the shed for any stray Chocolate frogs. But being a fifteen-year-old boy that was slightly intoxicated from too much butter beer, he had other things on his mind.   
  
When Ron and Katie finally located Cho and Harry, the latter couple was snogging like there was no tomorrow. They quickly but silently turned around and headed towards the pond, where they burst into giggles.   
  
"Well, I didn't think Harry had it in him," Ron joked once he had calmed down. Katie eyed him mischievously ...  
  
"Do you think you do?" she suggested, making Ron turn crimson.   
  
"Would you like to find out?" he returned, but didn't give her a chance to answer.   
  
A few minutes later, their explorations were cut short by a very loud, very angry shout.   
  
"Ronald Weasley! What do you think you're doing!"   
  
"Mum! It's not what it looks like – we were – I mean…"   
  
"I know full well what you were doing! Now get back to the house this instant!" Ron gave Katie an extremely apologetic look before sulking back towards the Burrow. Molly turned to Katie, her demeanor much calmer now, and told her "Your mum is wondering where you and Cho have gotten off to, dear. I told her I'd get you two home soon. Would you mind finding Miss Chang and bringing her back up to the house to take the floo home?"   
  
Mystified by Mrs. Weasley's lack of reproach at having been caught with her son, Katie muttered, "Yes, of course," and sprinted off towards the shed. 

Mystified by Mrs. Weasley's lack of reproach at having been caught with her son, Katie muttered, "Yes, of course," and sprinted off towards the shed.   
  
She found Cho and Harry as she had left them earlier, but this time she took no heed of how much noise she made.   
  
"Cho! Come on! We have to go!"   
  
Cho and Harry broke apart instantly, embarrassed at being found in such a way, until Harry noticed Katie's disheveled appearance and asked, "So where's Ron?"   
  
"He…uh…Mrs. Weasley needed him back at the house."   
  
"Sure she did," Cho teased her friend. 

Ron returned to the house, only to find Hermione and Viktor sharing a good-bye that Ron would rather not have witnessed.   
  
"Can't you two get a room? Actually, forget I suggested it; a room is the last thing you need."   
  
While Viktor blushed – something extremely rare for the burly Bulgarian – Hermione gave Ron that _Mind Your Own Business_ look as she straightened her blouse.   
  
As Ron played chaperone, Hermione kissed her boyfriend good-bye one last time before he apparated home. She turned to her friend and was about to unleash her wrath upon him when Harry and the two Ravenclaws walked into the room. She quickly hid her anger behind a blank expression. But, her effort was in vain since the girls totally ignored Hermione as they embraced Ron and Harry before flouncing off to the fireplace and making their exits

Hermione's presence remained unnoticed as Harry stared wistfully at the spot where Cho had just been standing. Then a grin spread over the boy's face as he turned to Ron.   
  
"So, I heard you and Katie really "cleaned up" out there. Did you leave anything to be picked up next time?"   
  
Ron turned the darkest shade of red he'd ever experienced before managing, "You tell me, Potter, you were out there much longer than I was! And from what I saw, you searched everywhere."   
  
Hermione could keep silent no longer. Hell may not know fury like a woman's scorn; but two young wizards were about to. 

"Honestly, could you two _be_ any more juvenile?!?!"   
  
"Hermione, it's not as if you weren't –" Harry began.   
  
"I, Harry, was spending time with my _boyfriend_, not sneaking off with someone I just randomly paired up with!"   
  
"So what," said Ron, "You still weren't _doing_ anything that we weren't."   
  
"_I_ didn't make crude, common jokes about the person I'd been snogging as soon as they went up the floo! _I_ actually have some semblance of respect for other people's feelings!"   
  
"Ron, maybe we shouldn't have been –" Harry tried to cool the heated argument, but Ron was too quick in responding to Hermione.   
  
"Respect for others' feelings? You wish, Hermione! If you really valued other people's feelings, you would have noticed how horrible it was to watch you act so…friendly…with that Bulgarian freak!" Ron spat. Harry knew it had gotten personal now, and nothing he could say would help the matter. So he sank into the shadows and let the scene play out before him, thinking that perhaps this was just what his friends needed…to battle out the emotions they had been bottling for so long.   
  
"How _dare_ you! He's no more of a freak than you or I! Just because of where he's from you have questioned his loyalties from the start. If you think that he's a future Death Eater just because of that, you might as well think I'm worthless because I'm a muggle-born! I can't believe you. You and I both know what it's like to be stereotyped – it's bloody hell!"   
  
"What's worse is wondering if you'll ever see the person you care about most again! The whole time you were with him, in a country with one of the highest crime rates in the wizarding world, not once did you send an owl to let me know how you were doing! Katie may not be perfect, but I'll bet she'd have the sense to stay away from Bulgaria!" 

"Why should _she_ go to Bulgaria? If _you_ could figure out she liked you, any wizard could have! At least Viktor isn't just interested in snogging me silly. Although, if you're interested, Bulgaria is a _lovely_ place to snog…it's so easy to find a place to be alone out in the wilderness…it's a primal place in so many ways," Hermione stabbed, getting the jealous glare from Ron that she had strived for. "At any rate, we actually _talk_ to each other. I'll bet you didn't say more than a few inches of parchment-worth to that Ravenclaw today. At least not anything that you'd repeat to your mother!"   
  
"Great! Now I'm gonna have nightmares about why you couldn't find the energy to owl me! And by the way, I've never just been interested in snogging! I want to be with someone that I can talk to…that I can confide in. Someone that understands that there's more to me than red hair and a famous best friend!"   
  
"And you're so sure that you've found such with that…that excuse for a witch! I'll bet she didn't know what a great guy you were when she set her sights on you. She probably still doesn't realize it! How insufferably stupid can she be! It boggles my mind…"   
  
"What are you talking about! She's perfectly able to carry on a meaningful conversation. As good as any _we've_ had!"   
  
"I know all too well her capacity for conversation. She pesters me in the library all the time with her silly questions and irrelevant chitchat. She wouldn't know a meaningful conversation if it hexed her!"

"That's not true, Hermione. It can't be. She's got the highest marks of all the fifth-year Ravenclaws!"   
  
"I only have myself to blame for that horrifying bit of trivia," Hermione muttered.   
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"   
  
"It means, Ronald Weasley, that the sorting hat wanted to put me in Ravenclaw. But I told it that if I didn't get put into the same house as you, I'd make use of a nice little unraveling charm from the Standard Book of Spells, chapter forty-three."   
  
The reality of what Hermione had just implied swept through Ron's body like wildfire. He stood there, speechless, while Hermione waited for some response form him. Any response from him.   
  
But none came. Unable to stand the embarrassment at what she had heatedly revealed, Miss Granger fled, tears streaming from her brown eyes as she made her ascent of the stairs.   
  
As she collapsed onto her bed, she began to curse herself for letting go of her most guarded secret…the fact that she had fallen madly in love with that fiery-haired wizard the moment she had laid eyes on him nearly four years ago.

~

"Ron, you alright?" Harry approached his friend. Ron turned to Harry with a look of pure shock and utter amazement on his face.

"I think I'm in love with her," he sighed before answering Harry's question. "No, I'm not ok...and I know Hermione isn't, either..."

"Well, that's the understatement of the year." Harry chided. But Ron's crestfallen demeanor sobered his best friend faster than a bludger to the head. "Sorry, couldn't resist. Must be the butterbeer talking…again. We were rather boorish just then, weren't we?"

Ron nodded his agreement. "I'd take it back in a heartbeat. Hermione didn't deserve all those horrible things I said. I was acting like such a git. I only hope she can manage to forgive me," he rambled sullenly.

"Look at the bright side, mate, if you two hadn't gotten so riled up at each other, you wouldn't know how she feels – or finally realized how you feel, for that matter."

"But I didn't say _anything_ back, Harry! What am I going to do? Think I should go talk to her?"

"No, it'd be best if you let her calm down first. Besides, Ginny left the party quite a while ago, and she's probably up there helping Hermione sort herself out. In the meantime, I'll help you figure out how to make it up to her."

~

Ginny swirled through the floo network, but being that her destination was only down the road from where she started, she didn't have to wait very long before exiting the soot-filled passageways.

She dusted herself off and looked around to see if anyone had noticed her. But the hearth inside Flourish & Blott's was nestled in the very back of the musty bookstore – _where most likely only Hermione had ventured_, she mused.

Ginny stepped out into the bustling street she had been roaming with Justin only moments before, and began walking to the place she had been trying to return to for days. As she strolled, she let the nostalgia take hold of her thoughts. 

The first time she had made this journey, the night air had been just as cool and inviting, the sky as golden. Her senses were flooded with memories as she breathed in the crisp evening air, forcing Ginny to replay the commencement of her secret activities on that day so many weeks ago…

~

A/N: Ginny Flashback!

~

_Ginny nervously stood in front of the shop, wringing her hands. It was a small shop, one she would have overlooked if she hadn't been looking for it specifically. The brass plaque on the heavy oak door was so tarnished she could barely make out the inscription:_

MacAuley's Spirit Room

Established 1943

_Gathering all her Gryffindor courage, she inhaled deeply and pushed open the door. Inside she found lots of very interesting magical devices, none of which she had the foggiest idea as to its purpose. A young witch, probably only a few years past graduation, stood behind the counter, eyeing the even younger red-haired witch with utmost curiosity._

_"How may I help you?" she asked with both professionalism and mystery hanging heavy on her words._

_"I…um…are you Madame MacAuley?" Ginny stuttered._

_"I am. Alexandra MacAuley, to be precise. But you may call me Sandra, if you wish."_

_"Alright then…Sandra…um…I need you to help me to…to make this," Ginny placed a sheet of parchment on the counter that she had used to take notes on from her father's book. "I know that there was one made before, no matter how much it's played off as a myth. Tom, at the Leaky Cauldron, said that a Madame MacAuley had made it. That led me here."_

_~_

_Sandra stared at the parchment as if seeing a ghost from her past. "It was my mother that made the amulet. It is the only one still in existence. How did you find out about it?" _

_"I read about it in _Muggle Attempts at Magic: A Wizard's Field Guide_."_

_"Hmm, I hadn't thought of it being in there. I should have, I suppose, since knowledge of it has leaked to muggle culture a number of times. The Phoenicians, Egyptians, Gnostics, those of the middle ages, and its true meaning has been so contorted by present day muggles…well, it's just shameful. Anyway, enough of the history lesson, for now anyway. If you're going to make the amulet, you need to understand its powers first. Let me close up the shop and we can get started. I f you're going to make the amulet, you need to understand it's powers first. Let me close up the shop and we can get started."_

~

Ginny's thoughts remained on those introductory lessons about the amulet's meaning and power as she neared the final crossroads of her path. Had she been more aware of the present she would have noticed the figure lurking in the shadows; she would have felt a chill inch down her spine as the steely eyes followed her graceful gait down the road. 

But as she reached the intersection, where off to one side a sign bearing the words "Knockturn Alley" hung, she was unaware of the darkly cloaked wizard that was now shadowing her as she turned onto the narrow side street where The Spirit Room took residence.

~

As Ginny walked down Diurn Alley – a side street that was the _Yang _to Knockturn Alley's _Yin_ – the tall, dark figure steadily kept its distance as she continued to reminisce.

_"The first thing you must know about the amulet is its origin. It was created by an ancient and powerful wizard. In those times muggles were not as protected from magic as they are now, and so knowledge of the amulet seeped into various cultures; the inscription, Abracadabra, is a word that has many derived meanings. In Judaic mythology, it is a cabalistic charm that is supposed to bring healing powers. When split into a – bra – ca – dabra it can be clearly recognized as the first four letters of the Phoenician alphabet. The Aramaics devised it into three words, abra – cad – abra, which mean 'it will pass when it will pass.' And the Gnostics in __Rome__ used it as part of a formula to invoke the aid of beneficent spirits against disease, misfortune, and death."_

_"And all those...those muggle interpretations…they all hold a bit of truth, don't they?" Ginny asked._

_"Yes, they do. But there is so much more to it. Which is why, I suppose, that you are so interested in it?" Ginny nodded, and then Sandra continued._

_"Well, judging from your notes, that book you read didn't do the amulet justice. The Abracadabra Amulet is the only magical artifact that can keep its sister spell, the Avada Kedavra curse, from succeeding –"_

_"Does it really? Are you quite sure?" Ginny interrupted._

_"If made correctly, yes, it can and it does. If you are going to produce an amulet, you must be aware of the consequences to yourself that will result. The amulet is powered by love, a magic greater than any that can be performed with a wand. You must devote your heart fully to the One whom you design the amulet for. This sacrifice will take away from you all ability to give your heart to anyone else, for as long as you shall live. It is a long and difficult process; once you reach the final incantations there is no turning back. Your heart will reside in small golden pendant, to forever be held by its wearer. It will be some time before that bridge will have to be burned, though, so I suppose we can get started, and I will explain more about the amulet's powers as we go."_

Ginny once again hesitated in front of the smooth oak door. She knew that this was it. She would cross the threshold into The Spirit Room with her heart pounding away with devotion for Harry, and leave having pledged that love into a carefully designed talisman that she would grasp tightly in her hand. Knowing that she could be the boy-who-lived's only chance to make it through the coming encounters with the Dark Lord, she held her head high and determinedly entered the seemingly insignificant shop.

~

"Ginny! I'm so glad you made it! The amulet is ready for the final ingredients and incantations," Sandra exclaimed in greeting. "Well, better put up the usual protective charms." Sandra flicked her wand about, locking the door and making the shop appear dark from the outside.

"I'm so sorry, Sandra, I just wasn't able to get away. The last few weeks have been so busy!" Ginny went on to explain about Harry and Charlie's unexpected arrival, her late night counseling sessions with Harry about Cho, the birthday party plans, and the day's adventures at the Burrow and in Diagon Alley with Justin.

"Hmm," Sandra said as she handed Ginny a vile of powdered rose thorns, "So does this mean you're over Harry? If so, the incantation won't work, you know."

"Are you kidding? Of course I'm not over Harry! I don't think I ever could be. I just decided that if I'm going to be heartbroken the rest of my life, I should at least have a little fun on the side."

"That's not fair to Justin – or anyone else that comes along."

"Who said life was fair?" Ginny retorted.

"Are you sure you're only 14, Ginny?" Sandra teased. "I know as well as anyone that life's not fair…but that doesn't give anyone the right to purposefully screw with someone's emotions," she finished bitterly.

"Speaking from experience?" Ginny prodded as she stirred the bubbling cauldron that held the amulet.

"In a sense…it's about my parents." Ginny's eyes flicked away from the potion and locked with Sandra's.

"You've never told me about them…other than the fact that your mother made the amulet for your father."

"It's a long story, Ginny…basically, he loved her but didn't see how it would work out, so he ended it…that was before he knew that mum was carrying me….So, she never told him; she loved him so much she wanted to respect his wishes, and never saw him again. So I was left without a father, my mother without her soul-mate, and my father without the family he didn't even know he had…all because HE decided to screw with mummy's feelings, putting his own ahead of all else…" Sandra began to cry.

"Oh, Sandra, I'm so sorry…perhaps you're right…"

"Right about what?"

"About leading Justin on. I should tell him the truth. I guess I'll save that conversation for the Hogwart's Express…not exactly the type of thing you owl someone about." Ginny sighed and then realized that the brew in front of her had turned a deep vermilion. "Look, it's ready!"

The two witches carefully retrieved the rose-gold amulet from the potion with a pair of tongs, then set it on a rack to dry and cool down.

"Alright, just the setting of the incantations is left, right?" Ginny asked, even though she knew the answer. She and Sandra had memorized the procedure, lest something happen to the scrawled notes that the latter's mother had made describing it.

"Yes, and that's all you. Would you like me to leave you alone? It might be easier to focus on Harry if I'm not watching over you."

"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I'll call you when I'm done," Ginny answered. Sandra nodded and climbed the stairs to her private quarters above the shop.

Ginny picked up the amulet and six golden chains that had been prepared during her last visit to the shop, and sat cross-legged on the floor. She laid the chains out on the floor in front of her and held the amulet tight in her left hand. With her right, she drew a circle around herself with her wand, and began the amulet's dedication ceremony.

**[A/N: In the next passage, the words in Italics are the words spoken by Ginny]**

_Within this circle I declare my intent to be heartfasted to the one for whom this amulet was made, and I speak of my intent to the magical higher powers._

_The promises I make today and the tie that is bound here will form a strong union; it will cross the years and lives of each soul's growth._

_I seek to enter this ceremony._

_In times past it was believed that the human soul shared characteristics with all things divine. It is this belief which assigns virtues to the cardinal directions: East, South, West, and North. It is in this tradition that I request a blessing in support of this ceremony._

_Blessed be this union with the gifts of the East:_

_Communication of the heart, mind, and body._

_Fresh beginnings with the rising of each Sun._

_The knowledge of growth found in the sharing of silences._

_Blessed be this union with the gifts of the South:_

_Warmth of hearth and home._

_The heat of the heart's passion._

_The light created to lighten the darkest of times._

_Blessed be this union with the gifts of the West:_

_The deep commitments of the lake._

_The swift excitement of the river._

_The refreshing cleansing of the rain._

_The all encompassing passion of the sea._

_Blessed be this union with the gifts of the North:_

_A firm foundation on which to build fertility of the fields to enrich our lives._

_A stable home to which we may always return._

_Each of these blessings from the four cardinal directions emphasizes those things which will help me to build a successful union. Yet they are only tools. Tools which I must use to create what I seek in this union._

_I may cause him pain, but it is not my intent._

_I intend to share his pain, and ease it._

_This is my heart's desire, I bind my heart to his._

Ginny picked up one of the chains before her and strung the amulet onto it. She held the amulet tightly and continued:

_I will share his laughter._

_I will seek brightness in life to bring to him in his times of darkness._

_I will find positive in myself so that I may give it to him._

_This is my heart's desire, I bind my heart to his._

She strung the second chain.

_I will do my best to not burden him._

_I will share in his burdens so that his spirit will stay strong._

_This is my heart's desire, I bind my heart to his._

As she strung the third chain, a tear slid down her freckled porcelain cheek.

_I will share his dreams._

_I will work with him to create new realities and hopes._

_This is my heart's desire, I bind my heart to his._

The fourth chain was laced in with the first three.

_I may cause him anger, but it will not be my intent._

_I will take the heat of any anger between us and use it to temper the strength of the union._

_This is my heart's desire, I bind my heart to his._

Tears now cascaded from her glistening eyes, but she paid them no heed as she strung the fifth chain.

_I will honor him._

_I will seek to never give cause to break that honor._

_This is my heart's desire, I bind my heart to him._

The sixth chain was strung.

Ginny took her wand and placed the tip of it to her heart, and recited the final commitments of the binding ceremony.

_I give my heart to him_

_I will never love another._

_I have not in the past, I do not in the present, and I never will in the future._

_My heart gives itself over to his. He is my only desire._

She slowly brought her wand away from her chest, dangling from it was a wispy, silvery thread – the essence of her devotion to him.

She touched the thread to the amulet; it left her wand, swirled through the inscription, and then wrapped itself around the six chains, forming a seventh chain that completed the amulet by binding all the other chains together and fastening the chains magically to the amulet, so that they could not be separated from one another.

The chain began to rise, until the entire amulet was swirling in midair. As it turned, faster and faster, a second chain was born from the first; the tiny replica was identical, except for the inscription.

The two amulets lowered to the floor, where they rested gently down. Ginny picked up the small one and read the inscription on it to herself…_IMZADI_. She placed the chain around her neck and breathed the words "_Abracadabra au mi Imzadi_." The two ends of chain intertwined seamlessly; a bond that could not be broken unless Ginny dared to recite the counter-charm.

She breathed a deep sigh of relief, and called to Sandra.

It was finished.

~

After placing a charm on the amulet so that it would look like an old, broken necklace to anyone else, Ginny and Sandra bid each other good night, and Ginny left the shop to head home.

The mysterious, darkly clad figure was leaning against the wall in the inlet of a shop's doorway. He sunk even further into the shadows when Ginny emerged across the way. As soon as she passed by him, he silently crept up behind her.

He reached out and grabbed her wand-arm in one hand and clasped the other over her mouth. He leaned his head over her shoulder, and Ginny froze with fear as he whispered silkily into her ear.

"Well, Miss Weasley, I thought your parents would have taught you not to venture out alone after dark. Especially now that the Lord of Darkness has returned. No matter – the more time they spend loving muggles, baby-sitting Potter, and slaving to keep food on the table, makes it all the more easier for me to…spend some _quality_ time with you, shall we say?"

As Ginny collapsed against the wizard in a dead faint, he swished his robe around the two of them and they disappeared, leaving an effervescent crackle in the air.


	7. New Beginnings

**VI. New Beginnings**

After Ron and Harry had developed a plan of action for making amends with Hermione, Ron went upstairs to begin preparations whilst Harry waited in a chair by the fire for Sirius to show up.

Exhausted from the long day, and cozy from the warmth that emanated from the hearth, he soon began to drift off; the crimson and gold flickering in the fireplace faded into visions of a copper-haired young woman walking down a narrow lane…

He smiled sleepily at the sight, but soon was mumbling angrily in his sleep as he saw a dark figure approach her. As the man reached out to snatch her, Harry saw a very distinguishing mark on the wizard's forearm. The slumbering boy wanted to scream in defiance, but found he had no voice to protest with. The mystery man wrapped his cloak about the girl, hiding her from view. As he did so, a lock of platinum hair escaped his hood. The pair then vanished without a trace.

Harry sat bolt upright, screaming in terror. Panting to catch his breath, he still managed to declare to the empty room:

"Malfoy _knows_. Must…save…Ginny…"

_**Turn it inside out so I can see  
The part of you that's drifting over me  
And when I wake you're never there  
But when I sleep you're everywhere  
You're everywhere**_

Harry took the stairs to Ron's room three at a time. He silently burst through the door to find Ron asleep, drooling into his Charms book. Harry grabbed his wand and his invisibility cloak out of his trunk and made his way down the stairs. He paused at Ginny's bedroom door. Hoping that he was wrong and she was dreaming peacefully, he opened the door with a whispered _"Alohomora"_ and peeked in.

Hermione was laying a top of her duvet, asleep in the outfit she'd worn to the party. Harry noted her puffy eyes and tear strained cheeks; he wanted to kick himself for letting down the two most important girls in his life in a matter of hours. Hermione, at least, was safe in bed.

The only thing in Ginny's bed was a sheet of parchment with a hastily scrawled note on it.

Despite his urgency, Harry was drawn to the parchment, hoping it might give him some clue as to Ginny's whereabouts.

_Hermione _

_I've gone to Diagon Alley with Justin Finch-Fletchey. We were talking downstairs and…well…it all happened so fast…but I really want to get to know him better. With my brothers lurking about, that's an impossibility…could you please cover for me? I promise I'll return the favor!_

_Thanks!_

_ Ginny_

Harry's eyes had widened in disbelief as he read, but now were narrowed in anger. He fought the urge to rip the parchment to shreds; making his way downstairs, thoughts stampeded through his mind…_Why did she go off with Justin? There's nothing special about him…Wait - What do I care who Ginny spends her time with, so long as she's happy?…I must just be upset that she left without telling anyone…that must be it, why else would I be so angry?…But she was alone when I saw her being taken - How could Justin have left her alone?_

"If anything's happened to her I'll kill him," Harry muttered as he tossed floo powder into the flames. Wrapping his silvery cloak tightly about him, the now unseen boy-who-lived ordered 'Malfoy Manor' and spun off towards his destination.

Ginny shivered as she rolled over, and mumbled something incoherent. Slowly coming out of her disoriented state, she began to wonder where she was. _Stone floor…cold…damp…reminds me of the potions classroom…potions…amulet…Diurn Alley…_

"Oh, God, I've been abducted! Where the hell am I?"

She allowed her eyes to slit open slowly, but her caution was for naught as only darkness was revealed. She fumbled about for her wand, only to discover that it and her cloak were missing. All she had were the clothes on her back and the small amulet that was hidden underneath her shirt. She squeezed the small golden charm between her fingers and sighed in relief as she sensed its counterpart nearby. At least it hadn't been discarded on the way to …wherever she had ended up.

_Why did I have to be such a silly girl and do a thing like faint? Now I'm alone, with no way to defend myself, and no one knows where I am! How could I have been so careless!_

She began to cry. Her raking sobs were so loud, that she did not hear the soft click of the door, or the softly spoken spell. Only the sudden illumination of dozens of torches encircling the room were able to make her eyes raise and search for the one that brought light to her dark prison. When she found him, she nearly fainted again in utter disbelief.

"D-Draco Malfoy? But…that means…"

"Yes, Weasley, you are at Malfoy Manor. In the dungeons to be precise." The steely-eyed rival of none other than Harry Potter informed her. Forgetting she was defenseless, Ginny stood and began hurling insults at him.

"You worthless git! Torturing innocent muggle-borns isn't enough for you and your dear Deatheater daddy? Decided to have some fun with purebloods now? You'll never get away with this you -"

Draco rolled his eyes at her rants and interrupted. "Please Weasley, if I wanted to have a good time with a pure-blood you're the last witch who's door I'd come knocking on. As for my excuse for a father…say what you will about him, it won't be any worse that the things I've called him."

"What are you on about, Malfoy?"

"I'm 'on' about getting you the out of this god-forsaken place."

"Why? I thought you were going to inherit your father's mask and hooded robes? Not big enough for his britches, eh?"

"Would you rather I leave you here for Father to deal with _as he sees fit_?"

Ginny's parched tongue didn't know how to respond. Swallowing nervously, she considered the consequences of her answer. _Should I wait for the fully trained wizard and Deatheater bastard to come and torture me…or go with said bastard's son, who _is_ only a year older than me, to an uncertain destination?_

Ginny Weasley sighed deeply, releasing herself from everything she thought about Draco Malfoy. If she trusted him, he just might prove himself to be more than everyone made him out to be.

"Let's go," she responded with confidence as she hooked her arm through his.

Startled, yet in a way pleased, Draco led her out of the dank chamber.

As the young Master Malfoy directed Ginny through countless ornately decorated halls of his family's estate, she began to question his motivations.

"Why are you doing this, Malfoy? Why are you saving me?"

"Because I don't want your blood on my hands. I know what my father's capable of and how much he hates you – not a good combination, Weasley."

"My name is Ginny, if you don't mind," she interjected curtly.

"I do mind, actually, couldn't your parents have come up with something less muggle for their only daughter?"

"Oh, and 'Draco' is such a great name?" Ginny teased, "What did you mother do, randomly choose a page in _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_? Can you imagine – you could have been Kelpie Malfoy!" Ginny erupted into a fit of giggles.

"Quiet Weasley! Unless you want to get us both caught. C'mon, in here," he hissed, motioning for her to enter the door he had just opened.

Once inside the room, which was immaculately furnished in green and silver hues, Ginny's trepidations flooded back to her. Shakingly she began, "Is this…I mean, are we in –"

"Yes, this is my room. You can wipe that scared look off your face, Miss Weasley, we're only here because it's the last place my father would come to look for you if he got back early."

"Got back early? From where? Why would he kidnap me and then skive off?"

"If his master calls, Father goes…the coward…he has the audacity to call himself a pure-blood, but if he were really true to his name, he wouldn't go around mindlessly following the orders of some half-blooded excuse for the Slytherin heir. Voldemort may be powerful, but he'll never be a true pure blood."

Ginny was stunned by Draco's words. "You mean you really don't want to follow you-know-who?" she whispered.

"What, and end up like Lucius? Never spending time with my family, only concerned about power? What good is power if you have to spend your life hidden behind a mask, every second at the beck and call of some lousy git that tortures you for fun? Most likely die a traumatic death, alone, unloved, no one caring that you're gone – if anyone even notices? Yeah, sounds like a bloody good time," he finished, his words dripping with sarcasm.

"So, do you know why I'm here?"

"Not really. I was working on my potions assignment down in the dungeons when I heard father come back. He put you in that chamber and followed you in, but then he was summoned and locked you in there. Oh, and he took these from you," Draco pulled Ginny's cloak, wand, and the disguised amulet from his closet.

Ginny tried not to look as incredibly relieved as she felt, but Draco noticed the fire that surged in her eyes when she saw the seemingly worthless pendant.

"What's so special about this rusty old thing?" he prodded.

"Umm…er…it's just an heirloom is all. I had it with me to…to get it fixed."

"Oh? And just how were you going to achieve that? All the shops closed hours ago – surely you weren't wandering around London looking for a 24-hour jewelry repair shop?"

"Of course not! I was visiting a friend and just forgot about it that's all. It's no bother…I'll get it fixed another day. Can I have my things back now, please?"

Draco tossed Ginny her cloak and wand, but kept examining the amulet.

"You know," he drawled, "this doesn't look so bad, I'm sure I could fix it for you with a handy little spell or tw-"

"Give it here, Malfoy," Ginny ordered as she pointed her wand straight at the blonde Slytherin.

Draco raised an eyebrow as he responded.

Harry landed with a thud, covered with soot. Looking around him, he wasn't sure if he had made it to Malfoy Manor or not. Poking around in the dusty attic, he came across an old trunk that bore the Hogwart's crest and the initials 'LM'.

"It could be Lucius Malfoy's old school trunk, but with my history traveling the floo network, I probably ended up at Professor McGonagall's childhood home and this is her sister's trunk or something," Harry grumbled. "Well, there's one way to find out."

Harry undid the lock and his fears were soon proven unfounded, for amongst the old (though, it appeared, untouched) textbooks, were assorted green and silver Slytherin paraphernalia. Just to be sure, Harry opened a small photo album he found nestled between _Unfogging the Future_ and _Quidditch Through the Ages_.

Inside the cover was a rather posh bookplate that read "Property of Master Lucius Malfoy, Slytherin House". Harry flipped trough the pages, which were mostly filled with shots of a young Lucius posing in the Slytherin common room, playing Quidditch, et cetera. Then one of the pictures caught his eye.

For a second, he thought he saw himself standing in between Ginny and Draco, until he noticed the others in the picture and realized it was his parents, accompanied by the Marauders, Arabella Figg, and a couple of girls he didn't recognize. The Gryffindors of days past were facing off against Lucius, a couple of burly fellows who had to have been the elder Crabbe and Goyle, and Severus Snape was lurking on the edge.

Something wasn't quite right in that picture yet Harry, anxious for any link to his parents he could find, pulled it out of the plastic sleeve. As he did so, a tiny folded piece of parchment fluttered to the floor. Intrigued, he picked it up and realized that it had been shrunken to fit behind the photograph he had just tucked inside his cloak. After a quick _Engorgio!_, he untied the sting holding the parchment shut and opened the makeshift envelope. He gasped at what he saw.

Severus Snape.

And Arabella Figg.

Snogging. In a dungeon chamber Harry hadn't seen before. But judging by the robes that they were half-wearing, it must be at Hogwart's somewhere. Harry pulled the picture he had nabbed out of his pocket and looked at it a little closer. He realized the reason that it looked odd – the rivals were all seething with anger, except for Arabella and Snape. They were eyeing each other nervously, mouthing silent comments to each other when the others weren't looking. _This is going to be one interesting year_, Harry thought.

As he flipped to the next picture in the stack, he wished he had left well enough alone. The rest of the shots were of Lily Evans in the prefect's bathroom wearing next to nothing. And what she was wearing wasn't anywhere near something Harry ever imagined his mother in.

He hoped to high heaven that she was unaware of Malfoy's little photo shoot. Either way, he knew he would have nightmares about those pictures for as long as he lived. He shook his head to try to clear the images from his brain and suddenly remembered why he was there in the first place.

He hastily shrunk the pictures back down and shoved them randomly into the album. After everything looked as he had found it, he started for the door. With a final glance back at the trunk, he shuddered at what it held before heading down the stairs in search for Ginny, swearing that if Draco dared to repeat the elder Malfoy's apparent obsession with red-heads, he would personally put a rather abrupt end to it.

"Give it here, Malfoy," Ginny ordered as she pointed her wand straight at the blonde Slytherin.

Draco raised an eyebrow as he responded, "Quite the brave little lioness aren't you? I don't blame you for being so shrewd about trusting me – rather Slytherin of you, if truth be told. I'm willing to bet that it's not _just_ an heirloom, is it?"

Ginny kept her stance and only glared more fiercely in response, so Malfoy continued on speaking.

"Fine, we all have our secrets. So how about a trade? You tell me something I might find…valuable…and I'll give you your little bauble back."

"The necklace first, Draco," Ginny demanded, "or have you forgotten who's holding the wand?"

"As you wish," he drawled, "You don't have to go getting all swish-and-flick happy." Draco tossed the amulet into Ginny's outstretched hand, then leaned against the nearest bedpost. "Your turn."

Ginny narrowed her eyes, still unsure of Draco's motivations. _Well, I've come this far...I might as well keep on_, she decided.

"You stayed true to your word. How very Gryffindor of you."

"Touché," he smirked.

"So what do I know that you could possibly find useful?"

"Why you're a threat to Lucius, for starters. It escapes me how a muggle-loving girl such as yourself has him so worried."

Ginny lowered her wand, tucked it into her cloak, and settled herself onto the settee at the foot of the bed. "It's complicated. The abbreviated version is that ever since Tom Riddle's diary was destroyed, part of its magic stayed with me…and I have some sort of connection to Voldemort that allows me to occasionally see what he sees. It's horrible, what he does…" Ginny began to shiver at the memories and drew her cloak more tightly around herself.

Draco was staring into space as all the pieces slowly came together in his mind. "So that's why Father went to the trouble of snagging you himself. Usually things like that are left to wizards of much lesser status. But I'll bet this wasn't something Voldemort wanted done, or you'd be there, not here…Lucius must be acting on his own to try to cover his arse. Which would also explain why he was summoned right after he got back here with you. The dark lord must have been watching him…and now father is going to have to pay for his insubordination. It all fits, don't you think?"

Ginny couldn't answer him. Her worst fears had been confirmed. Lucius suspected that the diary had had some effect on her, and now Voldemort knew as well. Her future was as bright as Moaning Myrtle's; gleaning an understanding of the ghost's temperament, Ginny began to sob hysterically.

Harry roamed the halls of Malfoy Manor safely hidden underneath his invisibility cloak. As he made his way down the many flights of stairs he searched in vain for any hint at Ginny's whereabouts. After a while, he was ready to settle for any evidence that people actually lived in this rather museum-esque household; even the paintings were eerily stagnant.

After what seemed like an hour or more, Mr. Potter finally happened upon a house elf, unfortunately by stepping on him (her? it was hard to tell) as the servant creature was polishing the feet of an ancient suit of armor.

"Ack!" it exclaimed before regaining its composure and bowing its head in submission. The elf shakily spoke, "Who is there? Is that you, master? A million apologies for getting in your way, sir…wherever you might be…please forgive me for being so inconsiderate, my lord!" The elf then proceeded to be kicked by the armor (which it had charmed) as punishment.

Harry responded by snorting in as Malfoy of a way as he could muster, and continued on through the winding corridors, putting as much distance between himself and the small-yet-powerful beast as he could.

Something intangible made him go down a flight of steps to the right, then take a left at the landing down a well-lit hallway. Whatever that something was, he thanked God for it, because the hallway was lined with portraits of none other than Draco Malfoy, starting in infancy, and increasing by a year with every frame. As he neared a large maple door, he heard a sound he knew all too well. Ginny was in there, and she was crying.

His emerald eyes ablaze with fury, Harry stormed towards the door, whipping off his cloak as he went, with only one thing on his mind:

Hex first.

Ask questions later.

Draco didn't know what exactly to do. He'd seen women cry before (his father had made sure of that), he had even made a few cry with his trademark teasing and taunting. But this was something different. Ginny was crying because she was scared – and of the exact same people that he feared everyday. Knowing that he would be teased and cursed beyond recognition if another Slytherin were to witness his actions, but secure in the fact that he was safe at home, Draco joined Ginny on the settee and wrapped his arms around her, soothing her as best he could.

Normally, the littlest Weasley would have been repulsed at his touch, but she knew that things were different now, too. She knew that to defeat Voldemort would require every possible alliance… 'unless those of us who know the truth stand united, there is no hope for any of us' Dumbledore had said.

Draco knew the truth; he was willing to help; that was enough for Ginny. Still crying, but sensing that she was close to regaining control of her emotions, Ginny looked up at Draco with gratitude.

The oddly saccharine moment was broken, however, by the abrupt entrance of an enraged Harry Potter, who sized up the scene in the only way his mind could interpret it, raised his wand, and roared,

_"Expelliarmus!"_

Draco flew across the room and tried to stand when –

_"Stupefy!"_

– he fell to the floor in a heap.

Ginny rose to her feet in a rage, the startled look on her face drew Harry's attention away from her hastily burying the amulet in an inner cloak pocket. He couldn't figure out why she looked…well, _mad_.

"Aren't you happy to see me?"

"Why should I be!" she choked out, her voice still husky from crying.

"Um, because I just saved you from that lousy git?" Harry questioned, nodding his head towards the lump on the carpet that was Draco Malfoy.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Just because you're the boy who lived doesn't make you everyone's knight in shining armor! I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but the 'lousy git' you're referring to happens to be the hero tonight. _Enervate!_"

Draco moaned as he came to, rubbing his head where it had crashed into the floor. As he straightened his robes, he smirked at Harry's incredulous expression before making his way to Ginny's side.

"Look, you don't have much time left. I'll make up something to tell Lucius, you get back home and pretend like nothing happened. Understand? I promise I'll contact you as soon as I can," Draco went over to his desk and pulled something out of one of the drawers, "Here, this is the safest way for you to return."

"A boomerang?" Harry asked, still utterly confused at Malfoy being civil.

"No, Potter, it's a rare Australian portkey. Father sent it to me one year while he was on holiday. First use your wand to tell it where you want to go, then once you get there you'll have five seconds to let go of it before it returns back here."

"Why would anyone want to travel somewhere and back so quickly?" It was Ginny's turn to be perplexed, and Harry's turn to be insightful.

"Oh, I'm sure Malfoy has had his share of fun with it…it's rare because it's contraband, not because it's hard to make. Quite useful for pulling pranks, eh, Malfoy?"

"As useful as that cloak of yours is," Draco shot back, pointing towards the silvery material draped over Harry's arm.

"Enough you two!" Ginny turned to Draco, "Thank you. If nothing else I'll talk to you on the train, alright?" Draco nodded, and Ginny gave him a quick hug before joining Harry in the middle of the room. As they grasped the portkey, she waved her wand over it and muttered _'Weasley Way'_.

As they spun back towards home, soft, melodic words filled his head…

_**Just tell me how I got this far  
Just tell me why you're here and who you are  
'Cause every time I look  
You're never there  
And every time I sleep  
You're always there**_

'Cause you're everywhere to me  
And when I close my eyes it's you I see  
You're everything I know  
That makes me believe  
I'm not alone  
I'm not alone

The two young Gryffindors landed softly in a patch of grass beside a gravel road, and quickly set the portkey down in front of them. Once it had vanished, they stood and began making their way down the lane towards the Burrow.

"Why didn't you have us arrive inside?"

"Because I didn't want to have to explain that portkey if anyone is awake. Let's just hope everyone's still in bed so we won't have to fabricate a story to tell them."

"You mean you're actually not going to tell anyone what happened? You're keeping your word to _Malfoy_?"

"Yes, I'm keeping my promise to Draco, as I expect him to keep his promise to me. And I won't tell them what happened," Ginny motioned towards the nearing house, "but I will tell you…just not tonight, I'm exhausted."

"I would think so, it's nearly three in the morning."

"You don't know the half of it." Ginny muttered as she opened the front door. Once she saw what was on the other side, she wished she had decided to sneak in the back way.

The sound of footsteps and muffled voices caused the group worrying in the Weasley living room to fall silent. Nine pairs of eyes were immediately transfixed on the turning doorknob.

The creaking door.

The two rather ruffled looking teenagers.

In a domino effect, they spoke from left to right across the room.

"What happened to you?" the even more tear-streaked Hermione implored.

"Thank Merlin you're both alive!" Molly gasped.

"I was about to summon the Ministry! Why didn't you inform anyone of where you'd gone?" Arthur was boiling. In the blink of an eye, Ginny looked quizzically back at Hermione and Harry shook his head at Ginny, his eyes telling her Hermione didn't get her note.

Percy noticed their silent interaction and accused, "Didn't you have enough of a snog-fest this afternoon, Harry?"

"What the hell were you two thinking!" Sirius and Charlie chorused.

Fred and George asked if they could go back to bed now that everyone was accounted for.

Ron just glared.

Ginny rolled her eyes dramatically. "Honestly! I've been gone for twelve hours and you've only just noticed? I don't know what Harry was thinking when he left the Burrow, but I wanted to get out from under the Weasley microscope, thank you _very_ much!"

After she stormed upstairs and was out of sight, the nine sets of eyes returned to Harry.

Mr. Potter mumbled something incoherent and tried to make his way to the stairs. Sirius swiftly blocked his path. Harry tried to turn, but found the Weasley clan was hovering immediately behind him. After an exasperated sigh, Harry launched feet-first into a tirade that, had he used his head, he would have realized was a lost cause (in other words, he was toast).

"Look, what Ginny was doing is _her_ business, I was only trying to help. Since no one seems to appreciate me tonight, I'm going to go to bed. If you want to yell at someone, yell at yourselves! She was gone for half a day and not a one of you cared to notice. If you're so concerned about your _'little girl'_ why don't you try listening to what she has to say, not screaming at her because you were too wrapped up in your own lives to pay her any attention!"

Ron, who had until this point kept his silence, was the first to break it, "Go to sleep if you want, but not in my room…you won't last the night." With his glare still in place, he took the stairs two at a time, followed by the twins.

"My, my, look at the time…we must be getting to bed, dear. Early day tomorrow! See you all in the morning," Mrs. Weasley commented, overly (and forcibly) cheerfully, as she pulled her husband to their room.

After a glance at his own watch, Percy gave Harry an evil glare to rival Professor Snape's, and brushed by him roughly without a word.

Next up to bat, Charlie stood, seething with anger from every inch of his muscular body, staring down at Harry as if he were going to pounce at any instant and beat the magic out of him. Instead, he took out his wand, turned, and muttered something under his breath. A flash of orange bounced onto the couch and chairs in the room. With a smirk, the last Weasley in the room retired up the stairs.

Now Harry had to face his guardian. Sirius stood there staring at Harry in shock, anger, disbelief, hurt, rage…the emotions swirled in his eyes. A number of times he started to open his mouth, but words to match his thoughts could never be found. After minutes had passed, he growled from deep in his chest and transformed into his animagi form. As he pounced out the door, Hermione came out of the shadows.

"Harry, I don't know what to say. I would undo the hex on the furniture, but I think you need to lay awake all night and contemplate what you did. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was pretty damn stupid. You have a lot of explaining to do."

Harry laid down on the now rock-hard couch and tried to figure out what had transpired in the past few hours.

In the bright moonlight, a large black dog could be seen squeezing in the gate to an old private cemetery. He wove through the marble statues and headstones until he came to the most recent monument. Satisfied that the late hour and lingering fog were enough to keep him from being spotted, the scraggly canine transformed into a still-fuming Sirius Black.

He sat in front of the grave marker; as the time passed his scowl softened and tears began to fill his eyes. Reaching forward, he cleared the moss from the stone before him.

_POTTER_

_James and Lily_  
_b. May 2, 1955 January 31, 1956_

_d. October 31, 1981_

_May their love continue to shine,  
No longer from their eyes,  
But down from the stars  
To light the way for the ones they have left behind._

"Why?" Sirius whispered, "Why did you have to make me his guardian? What do I know about raising children? How am I supposed to control him? Why did you have to die before you could see how proud he would have made you? Why do I have to try to discipline a boy that reminds me daily of the man I pulled pranks with?

"I feel like I've failed you both. I wasn't there for him, and now he's lost any hope of a happy childhood. Those bloody muggles probably came close to starving the boy a thousand times! I nearly let him get killed by Wormtail. Then I let Wormtail escape and run back to the Dark Lord, who nearly kills Harry because I was too blind to see through their plans. And tonight he sneaks off somewhere…those redheads – no offense, Lil – think he was off snogging. But I know he wasn't off having a good time; something bad happened tonight, I just know it. I should have been there to stop him from leaving, or at least help him with whatever he was off playing hero at. He doesn't trust me…he must not or he would have confided in me," he said, his heartbreaking.

"I can't stand myself, letting you both down over and over again. I'm not fit for the title of 'godfather' – there's nothing holy or paternal about me. What were you thinking? I can't properly raise him! I have to live as a fing dog, for Merlin's sake! The boy has no stability, no family life! And if he doesn't learn how to be a man, who's fault is it? Mine!" Sirius's whisper had grown to a full-fledged yell.

"And when Voldemort comes after him…I fear that history will repeat itself and I'll let down yet another Potter!"

Not being able to contain the innumerable emotions racing through his heart, Mr. Black fell back onto the soft grass, his tears glistening in the light of the stars.

The stars…he remembered his first few nights at Azkaban, when he was still in a right enough mind to appreciate the stars. As he blinked repeatedly to let the tears fall from his eyes, his vision cleared and the constellations above him came into focus.

"_Aquila_," he whispered, "The eagle of Zeus…"

_"Sirius? Sirius, can you hear me?" a soft voice called through the bars of his cell door._

_Inside, 26-year-old Sirius Black was leaning against the small hole that served as a window, lost in thought._

_"Sirius? Sirius are you alright?"_

_He growled, not wanting to be disturbed from his wallows of self-hate._

_"Padfoot, please, I know you're in there. It's not like the dementors to give you one last floo call."_

_After a hesitant silence, the woman heard him make his way to her._

_"Pamela? Is that you? What are you doing here, shouldn't you be cursing the fact that you ever trusted me?"_

_"Oh, Siri, I don't believe what they're saying…I always knew when a Marauder was lying to me, and I know that you had nothing to do with…with what happened in Godric's Hollow. I'm sorry I didn't make it here sooner…bloody red tape. How are you feeling?"_

_"How am I feeling? How would you feel if your best mate and his wife were dead because of your lack in judgment? And your godson would be, too, if it hadn't been for some random stroke of good magic? I feel worthless, incapable, distraught, alone…I feel like anything good in the world has no place in my life. After all, I'm doomed to die in the most wretched of places on earth. I feel pretty damn lousy. You?"_

_"Keeping hope that things will work out."_

_"How can they? Harry living with those muggles…I've failed them, Pam. I've failed everyone."_

_"Snap out of it Black! Those damn dementors have started taking their toll on you. You have to fight all the negative feelings – let go of them, you can't change the past."_

_"I can't change the present either, or the future! I have to sit here and wish that James and Lily had never known me. If they hadn't, Harry would have a Godfather that could take care of him, and maybe James and Lily would have lived."_

_"Is that what you think – that this is all your fault? If it hadn't been for you, James and Lily may not have gotten married. If it hadn't been for you, they wouldn't have realized they were in danger. If –"_

_"If it hadn't been for me being a coward, they would have lived!"_

_"You can't honestly mean that, Sirius," Pamela Thompson whispered, trying to calm her friend down. "You-know-who would have gotten to them sooner or later; fate waits for no man – no matter how much he may charm her."_

_Her suggestive grin managed to bring a smile to his face. "Charming, am I?"_

_"Did Lily and James ever tell you why they picked you to be Harry's godfather?"_

_"Because I'm charming?"_

_"Because you're the most loyal wizard Gryffindor has seen in a long time. When you love someone, you do it with all of your heart. If you make a promise, it will be kept. I imagine the sorting hat had a hard time with you, didn't it? I know why you're a Gryffindor though -- because even your extremely Hufflepuffian loyalty pales in comparison to your chivalry and bravery. Lily and James chose you because they knew you would always protect Harry, no matter what."_

_"And I've failed them!" he roared. "I can't protect him from in here!"_

_"You did what you thought was best to protect them at the time. Let it go, Sirius, you have to have hope. If you can grab hold of what is true and good in the world, then you keep your sanity while you're here. If you don't escape first, I'm sure your name will be cleared eventually."_

_"How can you be so bloody optimistic, Miss Thompson?"_

_"For the same reason you're so damned thickheaded! I was just born this way."_

_"Well then, what happy thoughts do you have as to how I can manage survive in here?"_

_"You're already using your alternate identity to escape a lot of the Dementor's effects, I presume?"_

_"Naturally."_

_"Well, your sanity should be safe, then. Now to deal with your extremely male attitude."_

_Sirius glared at Pamela's comment, but waited silently for her to continue._

_"How familiar are you with the summer constellations?"_

_"Enough to find my way home. Though I prefer the winter sky."_

_"Surprise, surprise," she responded dryly. "Well, Mr. Black, do you know where the star Altair is?"_

_"It's the head of the eagle, isn't it?"_

_"Got it in one. Aquila was Zeus's eagle; it is said in the old Greek myths that during the ten-year war between the followers of Zeus and the giant Titans, a magnificent eagle was ever by the side of Zeus waiting to carry his thunderbolts down to kill the monstrous Titans. It was for his loyalty that the eagle was given a position among the stars as the constellation Aquila."_

_"So, what, I'm supposed to 'be the eagle'?"_

_"In a sense, you already are. You may be the Great Dog in the winter sky, just as you are a brave Gryffindor to most. But I know the flip side of you. I know that you're just as loyal as the Eagle in the summer sky. I don't know when I'll see you next, Padfoot, but please remember that you have to stay strong for Harry…and for me." She wiped a tear from her cheek as she whispered the last few words._

_"I promise."_

As 40-year-old Sirius Black came out of his reverie, he looked at Aquila flying in the southeastern sky. "A promise is a promise…even if you haven't seen the person for fourteen years."

With a deep sigh, Sirius stood and shifted back into his canine form. He couldn't change the past. But he could do his best to make things right with the present; and starting over with Harry was at the top of his list.


End file.
